Analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of honey: the involvement of autonomic receptors

Abstract

The use of honey for therapeutic purposes is on the increase and many studies have shown that honey has the ability to influence biological systems including pain transmission. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of honey and the effects of concurrent administration of autonomic nervous system blocking drugs. Studies on analgesic activities was carried out using hotplate and formalin-induced paw licking models while the anti-inflammatory activity was by the carrageenan paw oedema method. Animals were distributed into six groups consisting of five animals each. They were administered saline, honey (600 mg/kg), indomethacin (5 mg/kg), autonomic blockers (3 μg/kg of tamsulosin, 20 mg/kg (intraperitoneally) of propranolol, 2 ml/kg of atropine or 10 mg/kg (intra muscularly) of hexamethonium) or honey (200 and 600 mg/kg) with one of the blockers. The results showed that honey reduced pain perception especially inflammatory pain and the administration of tamsulosin and propranolol spared the effect of honey. Hexamethonium also spared the effects of honey at the early and late phases of the test while atropine only inhibited the early phase of the test. However, atropine and hexamethonium spared the anti-inflammatory effects of honey but tamsulosin abolished the effects while propranolol only abolished the anti-inflammatory effects at the peak of the inflammation. The results suggest the involvement of autonomic receptors in the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of honey although the level of involvement depends on the different types of the receptors.

Preemptive Analgesic and Antioxidative Effect of Curcumin for Experimental Migraine

“…[ 21 ] Group 3 (NTG + CC): injected with NTG (1 mg/100 g body weight), 1 ml i.p. + pretreatment with Curcumin (10 mg/100 g body weight) [ 22 ] Group 4 (NTG + PP): injected with NTG (1 mg/100 g body weight), 1 ml i.p + pretreatment with Propranolol (100 μ g/100 g body weight) [ 23 ] Group 5 (NTG + ID): injected with NTG (1 mg/100 g body weight), 1 ml i.p + Indomethacin injected i.p., 0.5 mg/100 g body weight i.p., 30 min previous to the formalin test [ 24 ] …”

“…Group 5 (NTG + ID): injected with NTG (1 mg/100 g body weight), 1 ml i.p + Indomethacin injected i.p., 0.5 mg/100 g body weight i.p., 30 min previous to the formalin test [ 24 ]…”

Untitled

“…Honey has well established analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties (Alzubier and Okechukwu, 2011). Owoyele et al, (2014), observed that concurrent use of propranolol (beta adrenoceptor blocker) with honey blocked the anti-inflammatory effect of honey.…”

Chemical Composition, Nutritional Functions, and Antioxidant Activities of Honeys in Africa

“…Nooh & Nour-Eldien (2016) and Yaghoobi, Kazerouni, & kazerouni (2013) proved that honey mitigates skin inflammation and oedema, stimulates wound curing and promotes tissue regeneration. Owoyele et al (2014) investigated the analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of Nigerian honey and the impacts of simultaneous administration of autonomic nervous system blocking drugs. In these studies, a hotplate was utilized for formalin-induced paw oedema while anti-inflammatory drugs for carrageenan paw oedema.…”