RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Drinking mate or chimarrão, a hot infusion of Ilex paraguariensis (ILEX) leaves, is a common habit in Southern South America that has a social and almost ritualistic role. It has been used as a stimulant beverage in South America and analgesic in regions of Argentina for treatment of headache and others painful inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and rheumatism. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacological activity of I. paraguariensis infusion (ILEX) on orofacial nociception model induced by formalin, and study its mechanism of action. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analgesic effect of ILEX was assessed through writhing test, paw formalin test, paw edema induced by carrageenan, and orofacial pain induced by formalin. To study the action mechanism of ILEX, opioidergic, dopaminergic, nitrergic, and adrenergic pathways were investigated. RESULTS: The high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of ILEX infusion revealed caffeine and theobromine. The treatment with ILEX reduced the number of writhing. However, it was effective neither in the formalin paw test nor in the paw edema induced by carrageenan. Different from formalin paw test, ILEX was able to reduce the orofacial reactivity to formalin in 31.8% (70.4 ± 2.5 s; first phase), and 20% (127.3 ± 18.9 s; second phase). The analgesic effect of ILEX results from the modulation of noradrenergic pathways since prazosin (α1-adrenoceptor antagonist, 0.15 mg/kg; intraperitoneal) reversed the analgesic effect of ILEX. CONCLUSIONS: The present report demonstrates that analgesic effect of ILEX in orofacial formalin test is due mainly to modulation of noradrenergic pathways. SUMMARY: Ilex paraguariensis (ILEX) has been used as a stimulant beverage in South America and analgesic in regions of Argentina for the treatment of headache and others painful inflammatory conditions such arthritis and rheumatism.The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacological activity of ILEX on orofacial nociception model induced by formalin, and study its mechanism of action.ILEX reduced the number of writhing and orofacial reactivity to formalin in mice. However, it was effective neither in the formalin paw test nor in the paw edema induced by carrageenan.The analgesic effect of ILEX results from the modulation of noradrenergic pathways. Abbreviation Used: ILEX: Infusion of Ilex paraguariensis, NSAIDs: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, L-NOARG: L-NG-nitro-arginine, UV: Ultraviolet, i.p.: Intraperitoneal, NOS: Nitric Oxide Synthase, ANOVA: Analysis of variance, S.E.M.: Standard error of mean, HPLC: High-performance liquid chromatography, NO: Nitric Oxide, v.o.: Oral route, DCQ: dicaffeoylquinic acid, BMS: Burning mouth syndrome, PBS: Phosphate-buffered saline.
RESUMO
Abstract Fibromyalgia (FM) is a nonarticular rheumatic syndrome that leads to diffuse myalgia, sleep disturbances and morning stiffness. Balneotherapy has been shown an effective strategy to improve the health conditions of patients; however, the treatment follow-up is based on patient report due to the lack of biomarkers. Thus, this study evaluated the application of cytokines and phosphoglycerate mutase I (PGAM-I) to monitoring FM patient underwent to balneotherapy treatment. Eleven healthy and eleven women with FM were submitted to daily sessions of balneotherapy during 10 days. Clinical and quality of life parameters were assessed through a FIQ questionnaire. Blood levels of TNF-(, interleukins (IL-1, IL-2 and IL-10) and PGAM-I expression in patients' saliva were also evaluated. Patients with FM showed significant improvements in their clinical status after treatment. Also, FM patients has IL-10 levels lower than healthy women and the balneotherapy increased the expression of this cytokine in both groups, concomitantly to pain relief. Although inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-2 and TNF-() were more expressed in FM patients than healthy patients their levels did not reduce after treatment. A slight increase of PGAM-I expression was observed. In conclusion, IL-10 levels could be a useful biomarker to balneotherapy follow-up of FM patients. However, these findings must be analyzed in a larger number of patients in order to validate IL-10 as an effective biomarker.