A compound harvested from soft coral off the coast of Taiwan could provide a new treatment for pain from intractable nerve damage, experts say.

专家称，台湾沿海附近的软珊瑚上提取的复合物可能会提供一个新的治疗方法来对付棘手的神经损伤带来的疼痛。

Kenya Tree Coral originate in the Indo-Pacific region

Traditional painkillers¹ like aspirin² and even morphine often do little to take the edge off（使钝） neuropathic（神经性的） pain.

But research in the British Journal of Pharmacology suggests Capnella imbricata, or Kenya Tree Coral, could provide relief.

The Taiwanese scientists report promising³ early trial results in rats.

Several important drugs have already been developed from chemicals found in coral reef（珊瑚礁） organisms.

Among these is the antiviral（抗病毒的） AZT, a treatment for people with HIV, which is based on chemicals extracted from a Caribbean reef sponge（海绵）.

Reefs have also yielded treatments for cardiovascular diseases（心血管病）, ulcers⁴（疡）, leukaemia（白血球过多症） and skin cancer.

Deep treasures

Dr Zhi-Hong Wen and colleagues at the National Sun Yat-Sen University have been testing a chemical called capnellene, which is isolated⁵ from soft coral collected at Green Island, a small volcanic⁶ island in the Pacific Ocean about 33km off the eastern coast of Taiwan.

The reef there is said to be home to more than 200 different types of coral.

Capnellene appears to work on the supporting cells that surround nerve cells, which are thought to be responsible for neuropathic pain in some way.

Recent research suggests inflammation（发炎，红肿） plays a role, and inflammation activates⁷ supporting cells like microglia（小神经胶质） to release compounds that can excite nerves carrying pain signals.

People with neuropathic pain experience severe pain from a stimulus⁸ or touch that would normally cause only slight discomfort⁹ or stimuli¹⁰ that would normally induce（引诱，招致） no pain at all.

Some even get unpleasant or painful feelings even when there is no stimulus.

It is estimated that about 1 in 100 people in the UK have persistent¹¹ neuropathic pain - many are people with nerve damage caused by diabetes¹²（糖尿病）.

Dr Wen's team tested capnellene and a second very similar compound in isolated microglia cells and in experimental models of neuropathic pain in rats, with promising results.

They say more studies are now needed to see if this could offer a new way to treat the condition.

Dr Wen said: "Today there are few pharmacological（药物学的，药理学的） agents that can help people suffering from neuropathic pain, but we believe that these marine-derived compounds could lead to the development of a new range of drugs of great potential."