Central Neuropathic Pain Development Modulation Using Coffee Extract Major Polyphenolic Compounds in Spinal-Cord-Injured Female Mice

Abstract

Neuropathic pain is defined as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system, and it is known to have harmful effects on the quality of life of sufferers. It is characterized by hyperalgesia induced by a stimulus that normally provokes pain and allodynia due to a painless stimulus. Nowadays, no effective treatments are available to relieve neuropathic pain; hence, new pharmacological strategies are needed. Recently, it has been shown that coffee extract may prevent the development of neuropathic pain in mice subjected to spinal cord contusion, but it is unknown whether its effects are associated with the administration of the whole extract, or, in contrast, if its polyphenolic compounds could exert these effects when singly administered. Thus, the three major coffee extract polyphenols were separately administered to spinal-cord-injured mice to evaluate their pain alleviation effects compared with those exerted by whole coffee extract administration. Moreover, the reactivity of spinal cord non-neuronal cells was evaluated to elucidate whether their potential effects were associated with their modulation. The results indicated that although the major polyphenols modulated neuropathic pain development, the administration of the whole extract exerted the most beneficial effects