• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.237-246
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• 2020

Objectives: Capsaicin-containing (CP) pharmacopuncture was developed to treat neuropathic pain. This study was conducted to assess the toxicity of CP extract for pharmacopuncture, using a micronucleus test. Methods: First, a dose range finding study was conducted. Then an in vivo micronucleus test was performed to determine the induction of micronuclei in mouse bone marrow cells after intramuscular administration of CP twice with a 24-hour interval to 8-week-old ICR mice. A high dose of 0.2 mL/animal was selected, and this was sequentially diluted by applying a geometric ratio of 2 to produce two lower dose levels (0.1 and 0.05 mL/animal). In addition, negative and positive control groups were set up, and an HPLC analysis was conducted to confirm the capsaicin content of CP. Results: The incidence of micro-nucleated polychromatic erythrocytes in polychromatic erythrocytes in the CP-treated group was similar to that in the negative-control group, while that in the positive-control group was significantly greater. In addition, the ratio of polychromatic erythrocytes to total erythrocytes in the CP treatment group and the positive control group was not significantly different from the negative control group. In the HPLC analysis, capsaicin in the CP was identified through a comparison with the retention time of the capsaicin standard of 27 min. Conclusion: CP did not show any indication of any potential to induce micronuclei formation in bone marrow cells of ICR mice under the conditions of this study. Further toxicity studies are necessary to ensure the safety of the use of CP in clinical practice.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2020

This case study reports the clinical response to Korean Medicine (KM) treatments including capsaicin-containing (CP) pharmacopuncture in three patients with acute low back and hip pain. Three patients were diagnosed with acute lumbar sprain, and were treated with CP pharmacopuncture, and other KM treatments including acupuncture, cupping, and herbal medicine. Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Oswestry Disablility Index (ODI), and Clinical Evaluation Grade (CEG) were used to evaluate symptom changes. After one or two treatments, acute pain with limited range of motion in the low back and thigh region improved with a decrease in NRS, ODI, and CEG. These results suggest that further studies on KM treatments including CP pharmacopuncture for acute low back and hip pain are warranted.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.355-361
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• 2020

This study was designed to assess the toxicity of capsaicin-containing (CP) pharmacopunture using an in vitro chromosomal aberrations in Chinese hamster lung (CHL/IU) cells. In order to determine the high dose level in the main study of this study, a dose range finding study was conducted first. The high dose was selected at 10.0% of CP pharmacopuncture extract, and then diluted sequentially to produce lower dose levels of 5.00, 2.50, 1.25, 0.625 and 0.313% by applying a geometric ratio of 2. As a result, the cytotoxicity and precipitation of the CP pharmacopuncture as a test substance were not evident at any dose level during short-time treatment with and without metabolic activation and continuous treatment without metabolic activation. Therefore, the dose levels for this study were chosen as 10.0, 5.0, and 2.5%., and the treatment volume was 1.3 mL. In addition, negative and positive controls were set. In main study, the frequency of cells with chromosome aberrations in CP treated groups was less than 5% in short-time treatment with and without metabolic activation and continuous treatment without metabolic activation. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference when compared to the negative control group. The frequency of cells with structural chromosomal aberrations in the positive control group was more than 10% compared to the negative control group, and it increased statistically significantly. In conclusion, under the conditions of this study, CP pharmacopuncture did not show the possibility of causing chromosome aberrations.