Toxins 2018, 10(3), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins10030128
Botulinum Toxin B Affects Neuropathic Pain but Not Functional Recovery after Peripheral Nerve Injury in a Mouse Model
Alba Finocchiaro 1,2, Sara Marinelli 1,3, Federica De Angelis 3, Valentina Vacca 1,3, Siro Luvisetto 1,3,*
and Flaminia Pavone 1,3,*
and Flaminia Pavone 1,3,*
1
National Research Council of Italy-CNR, Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology-IBCN, 00143 Roma, Italy
2
Department of Psycology, PhD School of Behavioural Neuroscience, Sapienza University, 00185 Roma, Italy
3
IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00143-Roma, Italy
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 12 February 2018 / Revised: 13 March 2018 / Accepted: 15 March 2018 / Published: 18 March 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Botulinum Neurotoxins and Nervous System: Future Challenges for Novel Indications)
Abstract
Clinical use of neurotoxins from Clostridium botulinum is well established and is continuously expanding, including in treatment of pain conditions. Background: The serotype A (BoNT/A) has been widely investigated, and current data demonstrate that it induces analgesia and modulates nociceptive processing initiated by inflammation or nerve injury. Given that data concerning the serotype B (BoNT/B) are limited, the aim of the present study was to verify if also BoNT/B is able not only to counteract neuropathic pain, but also to interfere with inflammatory and regenerative processes associated with the nerve injury. Methods: As model of neuropathic pain, chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve was performed in CD1 male mice. Mice were intraplantarly injected with saline (control) or BoNT/B (5 or 7.5 pg/mouse) into the injured hindpaw. For comparison, another mouse group was injected with BoNT/A (15 pg/mouse). Mechanical allodynia and functional recovery of the injured paw was followed for 101 days. Spinal cords and sciatic nerves were collected at day 7 for immunohistochemistry. Results and Conclusions: The results of this study show that BoNT/B is a powerful biological molecule that, similarly to BoNT/A, can reduce neuropathic pain over a long period of time. However, the analgesic effects are not associated with an improvement in functional recovery, clearly highlighting an important difference between the two serotypes for the treatment of this chronic pain state. View Full-TextKeywords:
nerve regeneration; Schwann cells; glia; spinal cord; immunohistochemistry; allodynia; weight bearing; sciatic static index; walking track analysis
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Finocchiaro, A.; Marinelli, S.; De Angelis, F.; Vacca, V.; Luvisetto, S.; Pavone, F. Botulinum Toxin B Affects Neuropathic Pain but Not Functional Recovery after Peripheral Nerve Injury in a Mouse Model. Toxins 2018, 10, 128.
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