Anti-nociceptive effect of IL-12p40 in a rat model of neuropathic pain

• IL-12p40 (IL-70 sub unit) anti-nociceptive effect tested in a rat model of neuropathic pain.
• All doses of IL-12p40 homodimer significantly reduced the mechanical hyperalgesia 4 h following administration.
• Neither of the cytokines at any dosage induced motor dysfunction.
• IL-12p40 has anti nociceptive effects.

IL-12p70 is a proinflammatory cytokine secreted by dendritic cells, monocytes and macrophages. It plays a crucial role in cell-mediated immunity by inducing proliferation of T cell and natural killer cells, and enhancing their cytotoxic activity. In adaptive immune response, it acts on naive T cells to differentiate into Th1-type cells. It is composed of two subunits, p35 and p40. The latter can be secreted in the form of monodimer or heterodimer, which is also referred as IL-12p80. Recently IL-12p70 has been proven to locally provoke nociceptive effect in naïve rats. This study investigated pain response following systemic administration of IL-12p70 and IL-12p40 homodimer in chronic neuropathic pain model, induced by chronic constriction injury. The doses tested were IL-12p40 homodimer or IL12p70 at 15, 150 and 1500 ng/kg, respectively. Pain was assessed at 1, 4, 7 and 24 h after injection, in the form of tactile allodynia and mechanical hyperalgesia. The side effect of sensory motor disability was measured by rotarod performance. By all behavioral measures, IL-12p70 of any dosage, at any time point, had no significant effect on tactile allodynia and mechanical hyperalgesia. A high dose of IL-12p40 homodimer induced significant analgesic effect by the measure of hind paw tactile allodynia from 1 h to 4 h after injection. Medium and low doses of IL-12p40 homodimer exerted their analgesic effect 4 h post injection. Mechanical hyperalgesia, following high and medium doses of IL-12p40 administration, was significantly reduced at 4 h after application. Also, no significant sensory motor dysfunction was detected for all dosage for both homodimers. These findings suggest that systemic application of IL-12p40 homodimer induces time-dependent analgesia to mechanical stimulation in rats exposed to neuropathic pain.