Menu
Back to Journals » Journal of Pain Research » Volume 14
Proteomic Analysis of Emodin Treatment in Neuropathic Pain Reveals Dysfunction of the Calcium Signaling Pathway
Authors Chen P, Lin D, Wang C, Song C, Wang W, Qu J, Wu Z
Received 5 November 2020
Accepted for publication 18 February 2021
Published 5 March 2021 Volume 2021:14 Pages 613—622
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S290681
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single anonymous peer review
Peer reviewer comments 3
Editor who approved publication: Dr Krishnan Chakravarthy
Peng Chen,1 Dongsheng Lin,2 Chen Wang,2 Cuiwen Song,1 Wenjing Wang,1 Jinglian Qu,1 Zhibing Wu2
1Basic Medical School, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, Guizhou, People’s Republic of China; 2First Clinical Medical School, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
Correspondence: Zhibing Wu
Department of Neurology, First Clinical Medical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 12 Jichang Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
Tel +86 020 36585577
Email [email protected]
Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) is a syndrome of pain mediated by distinct pathophysiological processes, and current treatments are not fully satisfactory. Emodin is an effective component of Chinese traditional medicine and has an alleviating effect on NP, but the pharmacological mechanism is not clear.
Methods: We used isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technique integrated with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis to identify potential targets of emodin in a rat peripheral nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) model.
Results: A total of 177 differentially expressed proteins were identified among the sham group, CCI group, and emodin group, with a threshold of 1.2-fold change and a P value ≤ 0.05. Among them, 100 differentially expressed proteins (51 up-regulated and 49 down-regulated) were identified in the CCI group compared with sham group. Moreover, 108 differentially expressed proteins (65 up-regulated and 43 down-regulated) were identified in the emodin group with the CCI group as reference. The enrichment analysis of Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) revealed an important role of calcium signaling pathway, neurotransmitter regulation, and long-term potentiation (LTP) in emodin-treated CCI model. Real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot analysis revealed that emodin decreased expression of calcium signaling related proteins, including calmodulin (CaM) dependent protein kinase II (CaMK II), phospholipase Cβ 1 (PLCβ 1), protein kinase C (PKC), protein kinase C (PKA), and tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB), compared with the CCI group.
Conclusion: Overall, these findings indicated that emodin might alleviate NP by regulating the calcium signaling pathway.
Keywords: neuropathic pain, emodin, CCI, iTRAQ, KEGG
This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.
By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.