Effects of alkaloids on peripheral neuropathic pain: a review

• Published in: Chinese medicine Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1 - 106
• Main Authors: Zhu, Chunhao, Liu, Ning, Tian, Miaomiao, Ma, Lin, Yang, Jiamei, Lan, Xiaobing, Ma, Hanxiang, Niu, Jianguo, Yu, Jianqiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 02.10.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Alkaloids; Analgesia; Analgesics; Analysis; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Care and treatment; Chinese herbal medicines; Clinical trials; Comorbidity; Cytokines; Diabetes; Diabetic neuropathy; Drug dosages; Drug withdrawal; Glucose; Health aspects; Herbal medicine; Hyperglycemia; Insulin-like growth factors; Kinases; Medicine, Chinese; Metabolism; Molecular modelling; Morphine; Natural products; Nervous system; Oxidative stress; Pain; Peripheral neuropathic pain; Peripheral neuropathy; Pharmaceutical industry; Phosphorylation; Protein expression; Proteins; Review; Reviews; Toxicity testing; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF
• ISSN: 1749-8546; 1749-8546
• DOI: 10.1186/s13020-020-00387-x

Abstract Neuropathic pain is a debilitating pathological pain condition with a great therapeutic challenge in clinical practice. Currently used analgesics produce deleterious side effects. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate alternative medicines for neuropathic pain. Chinese herbal medicines have been widely used in treating intractable pain. Compelling evidence revealed that the bioactive alkaloids of Chinese herbal medicines stand out in developing novel drugs for neuropathic pain due to multiple targets and satisfactory efficacy. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in the research of analgesic effects of 20 alkaloids components for peripheral neuropathic pain and highlight the potential underlying molecular mechanisms. We also point out the opportunities and challenges of the current studies and shed light on further in-depth pharmacological and toxicological studies of these bioactive alkaloids. In conclusion, the alkaloids hold broad prospects and have the potentials to be novel drugs for treating neuropathic pain. This review provides a theoretical basis for further applying some alkaloids in clinical trials and developing new drugs of neuropathic pain.