A research group led by Professor Atsushi Kawabata of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Kinki University, is one of the raw materials for beer, and the hop component used for bitterness and fragrance is pain due to rheumatic pain and nerve damage, and patients with irritable bowel syndrome. It was discovered that it can be applied to the treatment of a wide range of pains such as abdominal pain seen in.This ingredient is likely to be effective for neuropathic pain (diabetic complications, postherpetic neuralgia, side effects of anticancer drugs, etc.) for which narcotic analgesics such as morphine do not work. There are great expectations for clinical application.
Narcotic analgesics do not work (cannot be used), such as limb numbness and pain (neuropathy pain) commonly seen in diabetic patients and patients being treated with anticancer drugs, and abdominal pain seen in hypersensitive bowel syndrome patients. The development of effective therapeutic agents for pain is desired.
Under these circumstances, Professor Kawabata and his colleagues succeeded in identifying "Sohora flavanon G", which inhibits "Cav3.2 T-type calcium channel" expressed in sensory nerves, from the herbal medicine.From there, as a natural substance with a similar structure, we arrive at "6-prenylnaringenin", which is a component of hops, and "6-prenylnaringenin" and related compounds most strongly inhibit Cav3.2, the causative molecule of pain. I found.In addition, through experiments using mice, it was proved that this compound actually suppresses foot pain caused by neuropathy and abdominal pain caused by colonic hypersensitivity.
On the other hand, it has been confirmed that this ingredient has no sedative effect or side effects on the cardiovascular system, and is expected to be applied to humans in the future.
Paper information:[Neuropharmacology] Blockade of T-type calcium channels by 6-prenylnaringenin, a hop component, alleviates neuropathic and visceral pain in mice
