ArticlePain2019
Betulinic acid, derived from the desert lavender Hyptis emoryi, attenuates paclitaxel-, HIV-, and nerve injury-associated peripheral sensory neuropathy via block of N- and T-type calcium channels.
Article in Pain, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Betulinic Acid Promotes Motor Function Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury by Inhibiting Apoptosis Through Myc/NF-κB Signaling Pathway.Neurochemical research · 2026Article
- Research Progress on the Pyroptosis Mechanism and Related Active Ingredients of Natural Drugs in Spinal Cord Injury.International journal of general medicine · 2026Review
- Exploring Natural Analgesics for Chronic Pain Management: Cannabinoids and other Phytoconstituents.Current medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Epitranscriptomic Regulation of NMDA Receptors Rears its Ugly Head in Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain.Neuroscience bulletin · 2024Article
- Review
- From Plant to Chemistry: Sources of Antinociceptive Non-Opioid Active Principles for Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Phytotherapeutic options for the treatment of epilepsy: pharmacology, targets, and mechanism of action.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- Ethanolic Extracts ofAdvances in pharmacological and pharmaceutical sciences · 2024Article
- Medicinal Plants for the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain: A Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Current pharmaceutical biotechnology · 2024Review
- The CaScience signaling · 2023Article
- Argentatin C Analogues with Potential Antinociceptive Activity and Other Triterpenoid Constituents from the Aerial Parts ofACS omega · 2023Article
- Cheminformatics-Based Study Identifies Potential Ebola VP40 Inhibitors.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Exosomal USP13 derived from microvascular endothelial cells regulates immune microenvironment and improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury by stabilizing IκBα.Cell & bioscience · 2023Article
- Plant and fungi derived analgesic natural products targeting voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels.Channels (Austin, Tex.) · 2022Review
- Antinociceptive effect of plant-based natural products in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathies: A systematic review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
- Analgesic effects of medicinal plants and phytochemicals on chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain through glial modulation.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2021Review
- Targeting T-type/CaV3.2 channels for chronic pain.Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Targeting mitochondrial ion channels for cancer therapy.Redox biology · 2021Review
- Neuromedin B receptor stimulation of Cav3.2 T-type CaTheranostics · 2021Article
- Betulinic acid inhibits pyroptosis in spinal cord injury by augmenting autophagy via the AMPK-mTOR-TFEB signaling pathway.International journal of biological sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The Federal Pain Research Strategy recommended development of nonopioid analgesics as a top priority in its strategic plan to address the significant public health crisis and individual burden of chronic pain faced by >100 million Americans. Motivated by this challenge, a natural product extracts library was screened and identified a plant extract that targets activity of voltage-gated calcium channels. This profile is of interest as a potential treatment for neuropathic pain. The active extract derived from the desert lavender plant native to southwestern United States, when subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation, afforded 3 compounds identified as pentacyclic triterpenoids, betulinic acid (BA), oleanolic acid, and ursolic acid. Betulinic acid inhibited depolarization-evoked calcium influx in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons predominantly through targeting low-voltage-gated (Cav3 or T-type) and CaV2.2 (N-type) calcium channels. Voltage-clamp electrophysiology experiments revealed a reduction of Ca, but not Na, currents in sensory neurons after BA exposure. Betulinic acid inhibited spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents and depolarization-evoked release of calcitonin gene-related peptide from lumbar spinal cord slices. Notably, BA did not engage human mu, delta, or kappa opioid receptors. Intrathecal administration of BA reversed mechanical allodynia in rat models of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and HIV-associated peripheral sensory neuropathy as well as a mouse model of partial sciatic nerve ligation without effects on locomotion. The broad-spectrum biological and medicinal properties reported, including anti-HIV and anticancer activities of BA and its derivatives, position this plant-derived small molecule natural product as a potential nonopioid therapy for management of chronic pain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.