Analgesic effect of pharmacopuncture with apitoxin and melitin on Zuzanli acupoint (E36) in the treatment and prevention of chronic pain in female wister rats.

• Grant number: 24/04664-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy
• Principal Investigator: Gisele Picolo
• Grantee: Mariana Gianfrancesco Rodrigues Leonor
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Chronic pain is a multifactorial illness that affects 20% of the worldwide population, presenting more incidence in women than men. Although the difference in pain sensibility between sex already been known, few works have been realized to analyze the mechanism difference involved in analgesics and investigate the mechanism of new therapies. As a result of this, other problems associated with pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics arise, for example, the fact that women have a higher probability than men to suffer adverse effects. The reason for that is the fact that the doses are based on experiments in which the majority are men. Additionally, during phase I of clinic trials, the sample is composed essentially of men. Consequently, it brings up differences in the security and effectiveness between the sexes. Finally, one of the principal failures in the clinic trial, where they couldn't confirm the benefits of the new medication, is the fact that the pre-clinical trials were frequently realized only in males, while the clinic trial included women and men, even if in different proportions. Concerning chronic pain, although, in practice exist quite options of pharmaceuticals that can be used in the treatment. Even so, it still is considered a challenge, as the patients rarely present total reversion of the painful condition or even suffer some adverse effects resulting from the use of medication, principally for chronic use.Therefore, there is a necessity for new techniques and analgesic compost to compose pharmacotherapy. Among these techniques is pharmacoacupuncture, which means the injection of drugs and toxins at the acupoints, resulting in the decrease of the dose and, consequently, the reduction of the adverse effects of medicaments. A trial realized in our laboratory, using this technique, in male rats demonstrated the analgesic effect of apitoxin and melittin, its principal component, in neuropathic pain treatment. Thus, the objective of this project is to evaluate the analgesic effect of this compound in female rats through the realization of pharmacoacupuncture using apitoxin and melittin, assess if the repeated treatment is capable of preventing the pain installation, and investigate if the estrous cycle interferes in the painful sensibility or yet on the analgesic obtained with the treatment.