Herbal Decoction Divya-Peedantak-Kwath Alleviates Allodynia and Hyperalgesia in Mice Model of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy via Modulation in Cytokine Response

Abstract

The widely used cancer treatment, chemotherapy, causes severe long-term neuropathic pain in 30–40% cases, the condition clinically known as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Approved conventional analgesics are sometimes ineffective, while others like opioids have undesirable side effects like addiction, seizures, and respiratory malfunctioning. Tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants, although exhibit anti-allodynic effects in neuropathy, also have unpleasant side effects. Thus, alternative medicines are being explored for CIPN treatment. Despite scattered reports on different extracts from different plants having potential anti-allodynic effects against CIPN, no established medicine or formulation of herbal origin exists. In this study, efficacy of an herbal decoction, formulated based on ancient medicinal principles and protocols for treating neuropathic pain, Divya-Peedantak-Kwath (DPK), has been evaluated in a paclitaxel (PTX)-induced peripheral neuropathic mouse model. We observed that DPK has prominent anti-allodynic and anti-hyperalgesic effects and acts as a nociceptive modulator for CIPN. With exhibited antioxidative effects, DPK restored the redox potential of the sciatic nerves to the normal. On histopathological evaluation, DPK prevented the PTX-induced lesions in the sciatic nerve, in a dose-dependent manner. It also prevented inflammation by modulating the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in CIPN pathogenesis. Our observations evinced that DPK can alleviate CIPN by attenuating oxidative stress and concomitant neuroinflammation through immune modulation.

Chyawanprash, An Ancient Indian Ayurvedic Medicinal Food, Regulates Immune Response in Zebrafish Model of Inflammation by Moderating Inflammatory Biomarkers

“…Cytosafety and anti-inflammatory effect of PSCP was evaluated in THP-1 cells (RRID: CVCL_0006), procured from ATCC recognized cell repository at National Centre for Cell Sciences (NCCS), Pune, India, and cultured in RPMI-1640 media (cat #31800, Gibco, Amarillo, TX), supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (cat # RM9955, Himedia, Mumbai, India) in the presence of penicillin–streptomycin (100 U/ml) (cat #P4333, Sigma, St. Louis, MO). These assays were conducted as described earlier ( Balkrishna et al, 2020 ). THP-1 cells, seeded at a density of 5 × 10 4 cells/well, were differentiated into macrophages with 20 ng/ml phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) (cat #K63916, Alfa Aesar, Haverhill, MA) for 16 h followed by a rest period of 6 days.…”

Analgesic effects of medicinal plants and phytochemicals on chemotherapy‐induced neuropathic pain through glial modulation

“…Daily oral administration of DPK (69, 205 and 615 mg/kg, 14 times) attenuated paclitaxel‐induced neuropathic pain behaviors in mice. The DPK treatment lowered oxidative stress and inflammation in the peripheral nerves 40 …”

Immunity boosters in COVID-19: Reality or myth?

“…were demonstrated by various investigations in hosts or experimental models of pathologies with state of immunosuppression. [5,[41][42][43][44][45][46] Published evidences support the significant efficacy of the herbal preparations in pathological conditions involving inappropriate (insufficient or hyper-active) immune responses. Although modulations of physiological parameters have been shown after the intake of herbal drugs/preparations in healthy individuals, most of the evidence came from the investigations on pathological conditions.…”