FeTMPyP a peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst ameliorated functional and behavioral deficits in chronic constriction injury induced neuropathic pain in rats

Neuropathic pain is a maladaptive pain phenotype that results from injury or damage to the somatosensory nervous system and is proposed to be linked to a cascade of events including excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, neuroinflammation and apoptosis. Oxidative/nitrosative stress is a critical link between neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration through poly (ADP) ribose polymerase (PARP) overactivation. Hence, the present study investigated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst; FeTMPyP in chronic constriction injury (CCI) of sciatic nerve-induced neuropathy in rats. CCI of the sciatic nerve manifested significant deficits in behavioral, biochemical, functional parameters and was markedly reversed by administration of FeTMPyP. After 14 days of CCI induction, oxidative/nitrosative stress and inflammatory markers such as iNOS, NF-kB, TNF-alpha and IL-6 were elevated in sciatic nerves of CCI rats along with depleted levels of ATP and elevated levels of poly (ADP) ribose (PAR) in both sciatic nerves in ipsilateral (L4-L5) dorsal root ganglions (DRG's), suggesting over activation of PARP. Additionally, CCI resulted in aberrations in mitochondrial function as evident by decreased Mn-SOD levels and respiratory complex activities with increased mitochondrial fission protein DRP-1. These changes were reversed by treatment with FeTMPyP (1 & 3 mg/kg, p.o.). Findings of this study suggest that FeTMPyP, by virtue of its antioxidant properties, reduced both PARP over-activation and subsequent neuroinflammation resulted in protection against CCI-induced functional, behavioral and biochemical deficits.