Neurorestoration from medicinal plants: an opportunity to treat painful neuropathies

Neuropathic pain originates from damages to the somatosensory nervous system (IASP - International Association for the Study of Pain - taxonomy). Lesions (traumas, compression, iatrogenic and pharmacological causes) or diseases (infections, diabetes, ischemia, cancer) lead to the establishment of hypersensitivity. Afterwards, the maladaptive plasticity of the nervous structures facilitates pain chronicization (von Hehn et al., 2012; Di Cesare Mannelli et al., 2013). Currently, clinicians have very limited therapeutic resources available often associated to a burden of side effects (Hurley et al., 2013). Recently, we showed (Di Cesare Mannelli et al., 2016, summarized in Figure 1) the efficacy of a selected rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extract, obtained by an innovative extraction process. In rats, it is able to control neuropathic pain (induced by the chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve; CCI) and prevents the alterations of the nervous system induced by nerve injury. Data offer a preclinical evaluation for a prospective industrial scale up and therapeutic application of a natural, safe, disease-modifying product for the treatment of neuropathies