Current
analgesic therapies for treatment of
neuropathic pain are unsatisfactory.
Neuropathic pain is, therefore, undertreated and there is a significant need for a better
pharmacotherapy. Increasing evidence indicate that
histone deacetylation is a critical step in nerve injury
pain. To obtain an innovative treatment for the management of
neuropathic pain, we investigated the pharmacological effects produced by the new
histone deacetylase (HDAC)-1 selective inhibitor,
LG325, in a mouse model of
trauma-induced peripheral
mononeuropathy provoked by spared nerve injury (SNI).
LG325 dose-dependently ameliorated the
mechanical allodynia of SNI mice with a prolonged effect that was still significant 150min after administration. The intensity of the antiallodynic effect was comparable to that produced by
pregabalin and
morphine, used as
analgesic reference drugs. Conversely, The HDAC1-HDAC6 inhibitor LG322, used as structurally-related reference compound, showed a less favourable antinociceptive profile. The antihyperalgesic activity of
LG325 was devoid of any alteration in animals' gross behaviour and did not impair locomotor activity at the highest effective dose. SNI mice showed a significant increase in the HDAC1
protein levels within spinal cord in coincidence with the nociceptive phenotype. Treatment with
LG325 completely reversed the increased expression of HDAC1. These data illustrate the antihyperalgesic efficacy of
LG325 indicating that selectively targeting HDAC1 could have promising therapeutic potential for
neuropathic pain management.