Relation of autophagy and postherpetic neuralgia in older adults / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the relation of autophagy and postherpetic neuralgia in elderly patients,and provide new methods for prevention and treatment of postherpetic neuralgia.Methods One hundred thirty-five specimens were obtained from elderly patients with herpes zoster,containing 83 patients with herpes zoster plus neuralgia and 52 cases with non-neuralgia herpes zoster.The level of autophagy was determined by acridine orange-stain.The protein expressions of autophagy marker protein LC3 and autophagy related protein Beclinl were detected by Western blot.Results Flow cytometer detection after acridine orange-stain showed that mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of herpes zoster plus neuralgia patients was 0.775±0.068 and non-neuralgia herpes zoster patients was 0.342±0.025.The level of autophagy of non-neuralgia herpes zoster patients was significant lower than herpes zoster plus neuralgia patients (P＜0.05).The expressions of autophagy marker protein LC3 and autophagy related protein Beclin1 detected by Western blot also showed the level of autophagy of non-neuralgia herpes zoster patients was decreased compared with herpes zoster plus neuralgia patients.Conclusions High level autophagy is risk factor for postherpetic neuralgia in elderly patients.