Ellagic acid alleviates inflammatory pain and paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain in murine models

Ellagic acid is a healthy food and drug developed by foreign countries. It has been proven that it is not only anti-cancerous and anti-mutational, but also anti-microbial and antiviral. In this study, we examined the effect of ellagic acid alleviates inflammatory pain and paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain in murine models. It was shown that the effect of ellagic acid could alleviate acetic acid-induced nociception, formalin-induced nociception and paclitaxel-induced neuropathy pain in mice. Meanwhile, we found that treatment with ellagic acid effectively suppressed the interleukin-6 (IL-6) and nuclear factor-kappa b (NF-κB) activities in acetic acid-induced inflammatory visceral nociception, formalin-induced nociception or paclitaxel-induced neuropathy pain of mice. Next, we researched the mechanism of ellagic acid down-regulated the P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) in acetic acid, formalin or paclitaxel-induced mice. These investigations suggested that ellagic acid alleviates inflammatory pain and paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain in murine models through suppression of inflammatory and down-regulated the p38 MAPK signal path.