Ginsenoside Rg3 improves chronic pain by activating mitochondrial function
Aim To explore the role and mechanism of ginsenoside Rg3 in chronic neuropathic pain.Methods The differentially expressed genes in the prefrontal cor-tex of chronic neuropathic pain were screened and ana-lyzed.The mice were randomly divided into the sham operation group,model group and drug administration group.Neuropathic pain animal model was established by chronic sciatic nerve compression injury model.Ginsenoside Rg3 was injected intraperitoneally.The changes of pain behavior in mice were recorded.HE staining,Nissl staining,Western blot and immunohisto-chemistry were used to detect nerve and mitochondrial damage in PFC brain tissue of each group.Molecular docking was used to explore the target of ginsenoside Rg3.Mito-Tracker was used to detect mitochondrial membrane potential,and ATP kit was employed to ana-lyze ATP content.Results Compared with the sham operation group,mice in the model group showed hy-peralgesia and impaired motor ability,and nerve and mitochondrial damage in PFC(P<0.05).Compared with the model group,ginsenoside Rg3 administration could increase the mechanical pain threshold,thermal foot contraction latency and stick rotation residence time of mice.At the same time,the number of inflam-matory cells,Nishi bodies and Dnm1l positive cells in PFC decreased,and the expression levels of c-Fos,IL-1β and Dnm1l protein were down-regulated(P<0.05).Molecular docking showed that ginsenoside Rg3 could bind Dnm1l.At the cellular level,ginsen-oside Rg3 administration increased mitochondrial mem-brane potential and ATP content(P<0.05).Conclu-sion Ginsenoside Rg3 can reduce the expression of inflammatory factors and mitochondria-related proteins in PFC,improve mitochondrial function,and relieve pain hypersensitivity in CCI mice.