EXPRESS: Dehydrocorydaline can be a suitable candidate for analgesic purposes: a review on the current preclinical evidence.

Pain stands as one of the main factors related to human disability and suffering, with different classifications (e.g., acute/chronic, somatic/visceral, and malignant/non-malignant). The management of this factor is of great importance during the lifespan; however, the current suggested medications have not yet reflected sufficient effectiveness with minimum side effects. Therefore, applying an ideal strategy against conditions accompanied by pain is urgent. A growing body of evidence has recently highlighted that alkaloids as bioactive compounds with analgesic capacity can be effective in these conditions. Regarding this matter, dehydrocorydaline, a bioactive alkaloid derived from the tubers of Rhizoma Corydalis, has shown promising results in pain management in diseases, including Chronic constriction injury, bone cancer, sleep deprivation, and inflammatory pain. Also, dehydrocorydaline has been shown to exert different biological and pharmacological benefits, like anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-nociceptive, and cardioprotective. Hence, in this literature review, we aimed to explore the potential of this alkaloid agent in these conditions with a mechanistic insight.