| It is well known that honeybee's sting on human skin can induce on-going pain, hyperalgesia (and allodynia) and inflammation. However, the mechanisms underlying the above events are poorly studied. In the past several years, we have reported that following subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of a solution containing the whole bee-venom (BV, Apis mellifera), into one hind paw of a rat, the experimentally-produced honeybee's sting, the animal showed unique expressions of persistent spontaneous nociception (PSN) and inflammatory pain hypersensitivity relevant to pathological pain state. Capsaicin-sensitive primary afferents (CSPA) have been demonstrated to mediate the BV-induced PSN, which last for more than 1 h, as well as thermal or mechanical hypersensitivity, which lasts for 3-4 days. These afferents also mediate BV-induced long-term on-going spike discharges and enhanced heat/mechanical responsiveness of wide dynamic range neurons in the spinal dorsal horn. Collectively, these data suggest a contribution of spinal neuronal plasticity to the behavioral PSN and heat and mechanical hypersensitivity in the BV test. However, BV has also been believed to produce analgesia when applied into an acupoint or painful sites in both animal and clinical studies.
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