Bee venom pretreatment has both an antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effect on carrageenan-induced inflammation

Although the injection of bee venom (BV) has been reported to evoke tonic p ain and hyperalgesia, there is conflicting evidence in the literature indic ating that BV can also exert an anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effec ts on inflammation. In this regard, BV has been traditionally used in Orien tal medicine to relieve pain and to treat chronic inflammatory diseases suc h as rheumatoid arthritis. The present study was designed to test the hypot hesis that BV induces acute nociception under normal conditions, but that i t can serve as a potent anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive agent in a lo calized inflammatory state. The experiments were designed to evaluate the e ffect of BV pretreatment on carrageenan (CR)-induced acute paw edema and th ermal hyperalgesia. In addition, spinal cord Fos expression induced by peri pheral inflammation was quantitatively analyzed. In normal animals subcutan eous BV injection into the hindlimb was found to slightly increase Fos expr ession in the spinal cord without producing detectable nociceptive behavior s or hyperalgesia. In contrast pretreatment with BV (0.8 mg/kg) 30 min prio r to CR injection suppressed both the paw edema and thermal hyperalgesia ev oked by CR. In;addition, there was a positive correlation between the perce nt change in paw volume and the expression of Fos positive neurons in the s pinal cord. These results indicate that BV pretreatment has both antinocice ptive and anti-inflammatory effects in CR-induced inflammatory pain. These data also suggest that BV administration may be useful in the treatment of the pain and edema associated with chronic inflammatory diseases.