Quinic acid through mitigation of oxidative stress in the hippocampus exerts analgesic effect in male mice

Pain is a human societies problems that has always had a lot of attention to control. However, some patients became resistance to analgesic effect of common analgesics. A main goal of the researches on the field of pain is to find effective medications with less side effects. In this regards, natural derivatives of medicinal plants are under considering of researchers. It has been determined that oxidative stress involved in the pathophysiology of pain. The aim of this study is to investigate the analgesic effect of quinic acid considering its possible antioxidative effects in male mice.

In this experimental study, 40 male mice were divided into 4 groups (N=10) received normal saline (1 ml/kg), dexamethasone (5 mg/ kg), quinic acid (QA) (10 mg/kg) and QA (50 mg/kg) for 7 constant days via intraperitoneal route. Then, the pain response was assessed using hot plate test. Finally, mice were euthanized and hippocampi dissected out. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), nitrite as well as antioxidant capacity were measure in the hippocampus.

The results showed that QA significantly increased the duration of delay in pain response to heat. Furthermore, QA significantly increased the antioxidant capacity as well as decreased the levels of MDA and nitrite in the hippocampus.

we concluded that QA, partially at least, through mitigation of oxidative stress (increased the antioxidant capacity as well as decreased the levels of MDA and nitrite) exerts analgesic effect in the hot plate test in male mice.