Neuropathic pain (NPP) is the main culprit among chronic pains affecting the normal life of patients.
Procaine is a frequently-used
local anesthesia with multiple efficacies in various diseases. However, its role in modulating NPP has not been reported yet. This study aims at uncovering the role of
procaine in NPP. Rats were pretreated with
procaine by
intrathecal injection. Then NPP rat model was induced by sciatic nerve chronic compression injury (CCI) and behavior tests were performed to analyze the
pain behaviors upon mechanical, thermal and cold stimulations. Spinal expression of
Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and
signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was detected by qRT-PCR and western blot. JAK2 was also overexpressed in
procaine treated model rats for behavior tests. Results showed that
procaine pretreatment improved the
pain behaviors of model rats upon mechanical, thermal and cold stimulations, with the best effect occurring on the 15(th) day post model construction (p<0.05).
Procaine also inhibited JAK2 and STAT3 expression in both
mRNA (p<0.05) and
protein levels. Overexpression of JAK2 increased STAT3 level and reversed the improvement effects of
procaine in
pain behaviors (p<0.01). These findings indicate that
procaine is capable of attenuating NPP, suggesting
procaine is a potential therapeutic strategy for treating NPP. Its role may be associated with the inhibition on JAK2/STAT3 signaling.