Matrine inhibits itching by lowering the activity of calcium channel

Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 27;8(1):11328. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-28661-x.

Abstract

Sophorae Flavescentis Radix (SFR) is a medicinal herb with many functions that are involved in anti-inflammation, antinociception, and anticancer. SFR is also used to treat a variety of itching diseases. Matrine (MT) is one of the main constituents in SFR and also has the effect of relieving itching, but the antipruritic mechanism is still unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of MT on anti-pruritus. In acute and chronic itch models, MT significantly inhibited the scratching behavior not only in acute itching induced by histamine (His), chloroquine (CQ) and compound 48/80 with a dose-depended manner, but also in the chronic pruritus models of atopic dermatitis (AD) and acetone-ether-water (AEW) in mice. Furthermore, MT could be detected in the blood after intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) and subcutaneous injection (s.c.). Finally, electrophysiological and calcium imaging results showed that MT inhibited the excitatory synaptic transmission from dorsal root ganglion (DRG) to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord by suppressing the presynaptic N-type calcium channel. Taken together, we believe that MT is a novel drug candidate in treating pruritus diseases, especially for histamine-independent and chronic pruritus, which might be attributed to inhibition of the presynaptic N-type calcium channel.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkaloids / administration & dosage*
  • Alkaloids / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Antipruritics / administration & dosage*
  • Antipruritics / chemistry
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Calcium Channel Blockers / administration & dosage*
  • Calcium Channel Blockers / chemistry
  • Calcium Channels, N-Type / drug effects
  • Calcium Channels, N-Type / genetics
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Ganglia, Spinal / drug effects
  • Ganglia, Spinal / metabolism
  • Male
  • Matrines
  • Mice
  • Pruritus / drug therapy*
  • Pruritus / genetics
  • Pruritus / pathology
  • Quinolizines / administration & dosage*
  • Quinolizines / chemistry
  • Sophora / chemistry
  • Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn / drug effects
  • Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn / metabolism
  • Synaptic Transmission / drug effects
  • Synaptic Transmission / genetics

Substances

  • Alkaloids
  • Antipruritics
  • Calcium Channel Blockers
  • Calcium Channels, N-Type
  • Quinolizines
  • Calcium
  • Matrines