LPA181 in Spinal Cord Injury & neuropathic pain
Worldwide, over 20.000 cases of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) are registered every year, mainly due to traffic accidents. In most cases those lesions derive in very serious mobility loses, either affecting leg mobility (paraplegia) or body and arms mobility (tetraplegia) very badly affecting the quality of life of patients and of their relatives. Currently there are not effective treatments leading to the recovery of the mobility of patients suffering from SCI, so there is a very important medical need uncovered in this field.
LPA181 is a synthetic monounsaturated fatty acid derivative which shows great potency in the treatment of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), achieving mobility recovery of up to 80% in animal models after 4 weeks treatments, whereas control animals recover just 10 to 15% of their mobility.
Effect of LPA181 (LP181A1 in the chart) on the mobility of rats (time spent on rotarod) after spinal cord injury for 28 days. Rats treated with LPA181 (open squares) had marked and significant motor recoveries compared with control rats (solid circles). The solid squares show the result with another compound of the series, LP181
Moreover, LPA181 and other MLT-based compounds in our pipeline, seem to have a significant potential in treating neuropathic pain and other SCI-related lesions, such as sensitivity loss. In this context, preliminary results with LPA181, after 7 days treatments, show a marked capacity of blocking mechanical hypersensitivity in rats after spared nerve injury (measured by normalized Von Frey threshold) and also a clear trend for anti-nociception.
In collaboration with researchers at the Paraplegics National Hospital in Toledo (Spain), additional studies are currently in progress to further develop the potential applications of LPA181 in this field and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of action behind this outstanding efficacy observed in animal models of SCI.
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Related relevant documents
::> Treatment of Rat Spinal Cord Injury with the Neurotrophic Factor Albumin-Oleic Acid: Translational Application for Paralysis, Spasticity and Pain. PLOS one, Oct. 2011