Bioinformatics Analysis of Genes and Mechanisms in Postherpetic Neuralgia

Areca Thirteen Pill Improves Depression in Rat by Modulation of the Chemokine/Chemokine Receptor Axis

Depressive disorder is a severe and complex mental illness. There are a few anti-depressive medications that can reduce depressive symptoms, but with adverse or side effects. GaoYou-13 (GY-13), commonly known as Areca Thirteen Pill, is a traditional medicine for depression treatment with significant clinical impact. However, the molecular mechanism of GY-13 has not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to explore and explain the action and mechanism of GY-13 in treatment for depression. SD male rats were stimulated differently daily for 42 days to construct a depression rat model and divided into six groups: the control, CUMS model, GY-13L, GY-13 M, GY-13H, and FLUO. The body weight of was measured on day 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 or different days, and the behavioral tests (Open-field test, Sucrose preference test, Morris water maze) were made alongside. After the rats were decapitated, the rat brains were stained with Nissl or H&E dyes. The serums of TNF-α and IL-1β were tested. The protein of p-IKKα, p-IкBα, and p-NFкBp65 was traced. Then nano-LC-MS/MS analysis was made to detect the mechanism of GY-13. The active ingredients, drug targets, and key pathways of GY-13 in treating depression were analyzed through network pharmacology and molecular docking. With immunohistochemistry, quantitative RT-PCR, and western-blot techniques, the therapeutic mechanism of GY-13 was traced and analyzed. This study revealed that GY-13 significantly enhances autonomous and exploratory behavior, sucrose consumption, learning and memory ability, and hippocampal neuronal degeneration, which inhibits inflammation. In addition, omics analysis showed several proteins were altered in the hippocampus of rats following CUMS and GY-13 treatment. Bioinformatics analysis and network pharmacology revealed the antidepressant effects of GY-13 are related to the chemokine/chemokine receptor axis. Immunohistochemistry, western blotting and RT-PCR assay further support the findings of omics analysis. We highlighted the importance of the chemokine/chemokine receptor axis in the treatment of depression, as well as showed GY-13 can be used as a novel targeted therapy for depression treatment.

REAC Antalgic Neuro Modulation in Chronic Post Herpetic Neuralgia

BACKGROUND

Chronic post-herpetic neuralgia (CPHN) is a symptomatic condition that afflicts adults and elderly individuals. The chronicity of this symptomatology can be conditioned by the epigenetic modifications induced by the virus on the processes of neurotransmission and sensitivity to pain. The aim of this study is to investigate whether manipulating endogenous bioelectrical activity (EBA), responsible for neurotransmission processes and contributing to the induction of epigenetic modifications, can alleviate pain symptoms.

METHODS

This manipulation was carried out with the antalgic neuromodulation (ANM) treatment of radioelectric asymmetric conveyer (REAC) technology. Pain assessment before and after treatment was performed using a numerical analog scale (NAS) and a simple descriptive scale (SDS).

RESULTS

The results of the analysis showed an over four-point decrease in NAS scale score and over one point decrease in SDS scale score, with a statistical significance for both tests of p < 0.005.

CONCLUSIONS

The results obtained in this study demonstrate how REAC ANM manipulation of EBA can lead to improvement in epigenetically conditioned symptoms such as CPHN. These results should prompt further research to expand knowledge and ensure optimized therapeutic outcomes.

Phenotypes and Genotypes in Postherpetic Neuralgia Drug Therapy: A Narrative Mini-review

Neuropathic pain is a debilitating symptom reported by patients presenting with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Efforts to alleviate this pain have been projected to lie in individualization of pharmacological treatment through pain phenotyping and subsequent investigations into the genetic basis of PHN therapy. Understanding the various mechanisms related to these phenotypes can aid in improvement of available treatment options and discovery of new ones. Knowledge and application of genetic variations in PHN, structural proteins, and genes can aid in ascertaining risk, susceptibility to, severity of, and protection from PHN. This review summarizes the most recent information that has been published on phenotypes and genotypes with possible clinical applications and directions for future research.

Diagnostic Biomarkers and Immune Infiltration in Patients With T Cell-Mediated Rejection After Kidney Transplantation

T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) is an important rejection type in kidney transplantation, characterized by T cells and macrophages infiltration. The application of bioinformatic analysis in genomic research has been widely used. In the present study, Microarray data was analyzed to identify the potential diagnostic markers of TCMR in kidney transplantation. Cell-type identification by estimating relative subsets of RNA transcript (CIBERSORT) was performed to determine the distribution of immune cell infiltration in the pathology. Totally 129 upregulated differently expressed genes (DEGs) and 378 downregulated DEGs were identified. The GO and KEGG results demonstrated that DEGs were mainly associated with pathways and diseases involved in immune response. The intersection of the two algorithms (PPI network and LASSO) contains three overlapping genes (CXCR6, CXCL13 and FCGR1A). After verification in GSE69677, only CXCR6 and CXCL13 were selected. Immune cells Infiltration analysis demonstrated that CXCR6 and CXCL13 were positively correlated with gamma delta T cells (p < 0.001), CD4⁺ memory activated T cells (p < 0.001), CD8⁺ T cells (p < 0.001) and M1 macrophages (p = 0.006), and negatively correlated with M2 macrophages (p < 0.001) and regulatory T cells (p < 0.001). Immunohistochemical staining and image analysis confirmed the overexpression of CXCR6 and CXCL13 in human allograft TCMR samples. CXCR6 and CXCL13 could be diagnostic biomarkers of TCMR and potential targets for immunotherapy in patients with TCMR.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Role of Cellular Calcium Disorder in Varicella Zoster Virus-Induced Post-Herpetic Neuralgia

As a typical neuropathic pain, post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common complication of herpes zoster (HZ), which seriously affects the normal life and work of patients. The unclear pathogenesis and lack of effective drugs make the clinical efficacy of PHN unsatisfactory. Here, we obtained the transcriptome profile of neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) and DRG in rats infected with varicella zoster virus (VZV) by transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) combined with publicly available gene array data sets. Next, the data processing of the transcriptome map was analyzed using bioinformatics methods, including the screening of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Gene Ontology (GO), and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Finally, real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of calcium-related genes, and calcium fluorescent probes and calcium colorimetry were used to evaluate the distribution and content of calcium ions in cells after VZV infection. Transcriptome data analysis (GO and KEGG enrichment analysis) showed that calcium disorder played an important role in SH-SY5Y cells infected by VZV and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of the PHN rat model. The results of qRT-PCR showed that the expression levels of calcium-related genes BHLHA15, CACNA1F, CACNG1, CHRNA9, and STC2 were significantly upregulated, while the expression levels of CHRNA10, HRC, and TNNT3 were significantly downregulated in SH-SY5Y cells infected with VZV. Our calcium fluorescent probe and calcium colorimetric test results showed that VZV could change the distribution of calcium ions in infected cells and significantly increase the intracellular calcium content. In conclusion, our results revealed that the persistence of calcium disorder caused by VZV in nerve cells might be a crucial cause of herpetic neuralgia, and a potential target for clinical diagnosis and treatment of PHN.