Effects of bee venom on hyperalgesia and its corresponding cytokines

Abstract

Pain is a worldwide health problem that can affect the quality of life and result in psychological, physical, and social consequences. Hyperalgesia is an abnormal increase in pain sensitivity. Bee Venom (BV) from a bee breed called Apis Mellifera, can help in the treatment of hyperalgesia by reducing its nociceptive behavior. Formalin is the pain-inducing agent used in this research. The hot plate test is used to measure the hot plate latency of mice.In this study, the reaction of each mouse has been recorded before and after injection, to evaluate if bee venom reduces inflammation that was induced by formalin. Mouse groups labeled with bee venom were injected intraperitoneally with 100μl of bee venom 15 minutes after formalin injection. The formalin-labeled group was injected subcutaneously with 50μl of 5% formalin into the left hind paw. To check which cytokine is working as an anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory, ELISA will be applied to check for the concentration of protein that will be excreted from either formalin or bee venom. Then Bradford assay will be used to compare the ratio of protein concertation available from ELISA in the overall protein that will be shown via the Bradford assay. The findings of this study indicate the expression of the following cytokines: IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IFN-γ which indicates that bee venom might be an effective anti-nociceptive treatment for hyperalgesia. However, it has been demonstrated that formalin and bee venom operate more effectively together than bee venom does alone to produce a long-lasting anti-nociceptive effect.