%0 Journal Article
%T Exploring the potential effect of Ocimum sanctum in vincristine-induced neuropathic pain in rats
%A Gurpreet Kaur
%A Amteshwar Jaggi
%A Nirmal Singh
%J Journal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury
%D 2010
%I Thieme Medical Publishers
%R 10.1186/1749-7221-5-3
%X Neuropathic pain has been described as "the most terrible of all tortures which a nerve wound may inflict" [1]. Despite progress in the understanding of this syndrome, the mechanistic details underlying the disease remain elusive. Neuropathic pain is generally characterized by the sensory abnormalities such as unpleasant abnormal sensation (dysesthesia), an increased response to painful stimuli (hyperalgesia), and pain in response to a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain (allodynia) [2]. Peripheral neuropathic pain is frequently observed in patients with cancer, AIDS, long standing diabetes, lumbar disc syndrome, herpes infection, traumatic spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and stroke [3]. Moreover, post-thoracotomy, post-herniorrhaphy, post-mastectomy and post-sternotomy are some other conditions often associated with peripheral neuropathy pain [4].Chemotherapeutic drugs such as vincristine, paclitaxel, oxaliplatin, etc. are widely used in management of cancers especially Hodgkins lymphoma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and leukemia. Unfortunately, these anti-cancer agents have been documented to produce dose and duration dependent neurotoxicity and painful neuropathy [5] which limit their full exploitation in the management of tumors. Vincristine is unique among the chemotherapeutic agents that it produces predictably and uniformly neurotoxicity in all the patients even at the therapeutic doses [6]. This peripheral neuropathy is dose-related with a marked variability in individual susceptibility. After stopping vincristine administration, partial or complete clinical recovery follows which takes several months.Though some drugs have been found to be effective in managing the symptoms of neuropathy, yet their full clinical exploitation is limited due to wide spectrum of adverse effects associated with their clinical use. Moreover, none of the medications, assessed in randomized controlled studies conducted, has been found to be effective in injury induced and
%U http://www.jbppni.com/content/5/1/3