Bone
pain is a common and severe symptom in
cancer patients. The present study employed a mouse model of
leukemia bone
pain by injection K562 cells into tibia of mouse to evaluate the
analgesic effects of
lappacontine. Our results showed that the
lappaconitine treatment at day 15, 17 and 19 could effectively reduce the spontaneous
pain scoring values, restore reduced degree in the inclined-plate test induced by injection of K562 cells, as well as restore paw mechanical withdrawal threshold and paw withdrawal thermal latency induced by injection of K562 cells to the normal levels. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms of
lappaconitine's
analgesic effects may be related to affect the expression levels of endogenous
opioid system genes (
POMC, PENK and MOR), as well as apoptosis-related genes (Xiap, Smac, Bim, NF-κB and p53). Our present results indicated that
lappaconitine may become a new
analgesic agent for
leukemia bone
pain management.