Helicid alleviates pain and sleep disturbances in a neuropathic pain‐like model in mice

Abstract

Natural helicid (4-formylphenyl-O-β-d-allopyranoside), a main active constituent from seeds of the Chinese herb Helicia nilagirica, has been reported to exert a sedative, analgesic and hypnotic effect, and is used clinically to treat neurasthenic syndrome, vascular headaches and trigeminal neuralgia. In the current study, mechanical allodynia tests, electroencephalograms, electromyogram recordings and c-Fos expression in neuropathic pain-like model mice of partial sciatic nerve ligation were used to investigate the effect of helicid on neuropathic pain and co-morbid insomnia. Our results showed that helicid at a dose of 100, 200 or 400 mg kg could increase the mechanical threshold by 2.5-, 2.8- and 3.1-fold for 3 h after administration, respectively. Helicid at 200 and 400 mg kg given at 07:00 hours increased the amount of non-rapid eye movement sleep in a 3-h period by 1.27- and 1.35-fold in partial sciatic nerve ligated mice. However, helicid (400 mg kg ) given at 21:00 hours did not change the sleep pattern in normal mice. Immunohistochemical study showed that helicid (400 mg kg ) administration could reverse the increase of c-Fos expression in the neurons of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and tuberomammillary nucleus, and the decrease of c-Fos expression in the ventrolateral preoptic area caused by partial sciatic nerve ligation. These results indicate that helicid is an effective agent for both neuropathic pain and sleep disturbances in partial sciatic nerve ligated mice.

Helicid Reverses the Effect of Overexpressing NCALD, Which Blocks the sGC/cGMP/PKG Signaling Pathway in the CUMS-Induced Rat Model

“…Helicid ( Figure 1 ), which is an active component of Helicia nilgirica, is extensively used in the clinic to relieve headache dizziness and sleep disorders and is an auxiliary treatment for primary headaches as well as for relief from depression [ 14 ]. Our reports have shown that helicid alleviates depressive behaviors and inflammation, then to reverse the high expression of NCALD through IKK/IkappaBalpha/NF-kappaB pathway in CUMS rats.…”

Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum AlumineExtract: Sedative and Hypnotic Effects in Mice and Component Compounds

“…The EEG/EMG signals were amplified, filtered (EEG: 0.5–30 Hz; EMG: 20–200 Hz), digitized at a sampling rate of 128 Hz, and recorded using SleepSign software (Kissei Comtec, Nagano, Japan), as described elsewhere [18, 19]. Vigilance was then automatically classified offline under 4 s epochs into wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-REM sleep (NREM) using SleepSign software, in accordance with standard criteria [20].…”

Activation of adenosine A2A receptors in the olfactory tubercle promotes sleep in rodents

“…The coordinate of the OT was AP: +2.0 mm, ML: ±1.5 mm, and DV: -5.3 mm. EEG and EMG headmounts were then implanted according to previous studies (Qu et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2017). These mice were given a three-week recovery period for transfection of the virus and then connected to the recording cable for a three-day habituation.…”