• Renata Line da Conceição Rivanor, Hellíada Vasconcelos Chaves, Danielle Rocha do Val, Alice Ramos de Freitas, Jonas Cavalcante Lemos, José Ariévilo Gurgel Rodrigues, Karuza Maria Alves Pereira, Ianna Wivianne Fernandes de Araújo, Mirna Marques Bezerra, and Norma Maria Barros Benevides.
• Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
• Int. Immunopharmacol. 2014 Jul 1; 21 (1): 34-43.

AbstractSeaweed lectins have been widely investigated as anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory agents. This study analyzed the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory responses of a lectin from the green seaweed Caulerpa cupressoides (CcL) on zymosan-induced arthritis of the rat temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Rats received i.v. CcL 30 min prior to injection of zymosan (2mg/art.) or 0.9% saline into the left TMJ. Mechanical hyper-nociception was measured by the electronic von Frey method at baseline and 4h after zymosan injection. Animals were euthanized 6h after zymosan injection and the synovial fluid was collected for leukocyte counting and myeloperoxidase activity assessment. Other animals were treated with ZnPP-IX (3mg/kg; s.c.), a specific heme oxygenase-1 pathway inhibitor, and naloxone (10 μg/art.), a nonselective opioid receptor antagonist. TMJ tissues were excised to perform histopathological and immunohistochemistry analyses. CcL (0.1, 1 or 10mg/kg) significantly reduced zymosan-induced hyper-nociception (81, 83 and 89.5%, respectively) and inhibited the leukocyte influx (77.3, 80.7 and 98.5%, respectively) compared with the zymosan-only group, as confirmed by myeloperoxidase activity; however, treatment with naloxone or ZnPP-IX did not revert the effects of CcL (10mg/kg), suggesting that the naloxone-sensitive opioid and heme oxygenase-1 pathways are not involved. CcL also reduced the leukocyte influx and the expression of IL-1β and TNF-α in the TMJ, based on histopathological and immunohistochemistry analyses, respectively. Therefore, CcL reduces TMJ hyper-nociception and inflammation with a mechanism that is partially dependent on TNF-α and IL-1β inhibition. CcL reveals a potentially valuable alternative tool for future studies of TMJ disorders.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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