Sinularin from Indigenous Soft Coral Attenuates Nociceptive Responses and Spinal Neuroinflammation in Carrageenan-Induced Inflammatory Rat Model

Three decades ago, the marine-derived compound sinularin was shown to have anti-edematous effects on paw edema induced by carrageenan or adjuvant. To the best of our knowledge, no new studies were conducted to explore the bioactivity of sinularin until we reported the analgesic properties of sinularin based on in vivo experiments. In the present study, we found that sinularin significantly inhibits the upregulation of proinflammatory proteins, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and upregulates the production of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells according to western blot analysis. We found that subcutaneous (s.c.) administration of sinularin (80 mg/kg) 1 h before carrageenan injection significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced nociceptive behaviors, including thermal hyperalgesia, mechanical allodynia, cold allodynia, and hindpaw weight-bearing deficits. Further, s.c. sinularin (80 mg/kg) significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced microglial and astrocyte activation as well as upregulation of iNOS in the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord. Moreover, s.c. sinularin (80 mg/kg) inhibited carrageenan-induced tissue inflammatory responses, redness and edema of the paw, and leukocyte infiltration. The results of immunohistochemical studies indicate that s.c. sinularin (80 mg/kg) could upregulate production of TGF-β1 in carrageenan-induced inflamed paw tissue. The present results demonstrate that systemic sinularin exerts analgesic effects at the behavioral and spinal levels, which are associated with both inhibition of leukocyte infiltration and upregulation of TGF-β1.