obtaining and treating compounds : neferine with purity ≧ 90 % was obtained from market and prepared into desired differing concentrations ( μmol / l ) according to requirements . preparation of rat drg cells : dorsal root ganglion ( drg ) cell is the main afferent neurons in the mammalian and human peripheral nervous system . it expresses a wide array of trp channel proteins and plays a key role in nerve protection , repair after nerve damage , transmission of noxious stimuli , pathological and physiological processes . to investigate the effect of neferine on trpm8 , newborn sprague - dawley rats ( 5 days after born ) were selected . drg were aseptically removed and meticulously cleaned the rootlets and connective tissue . the tissue was digested with collagenase and trypsin in succession , and then centrifuged and the digestive liquid was discarded . cells were prepared into single cell suspension in common culture medium , and then calculated and adjusted to 10 5 nerve cells per ml . it was incubated in culture plates pre - coated with laminin at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 48 hours . camptothecine was used to inhibit proliferation of other cells . culture was continued to obtain drg cells with a high purity (& gt ; 98 %). detection of trpm8 and trpv1 mrna expression : the total rna of the drg neuronal cells was extracted in a routine way , after exposure to the tested agents of various concentrations under the normal , low and high temperature conditions respectively . the concentration of rna was measured and its cdna was prepared . the desired amount of resulting cdna and trpm8 or trpv1 gene primers were added on the iq5 - type real - time iq5 - type real - time pcr meter with gapdh as the endogenous control to perform extension . melting curves were generated . relative gene expression was calculated using the comparative threshold cycle ( 2 - δδct ) method with the calculated formula as following : δδct =( ct , target - c t , gapdh ) x -( ct , target - c t , gapdh ) control x represents any one of tested , control represents double target gene expression after gapdh correction . detection of intracellular calcium concentrations of drg cells : drg cells cultured under normal , low and high temperature conditions was obtained . the medium was discarded and the cells were washed after certain time . 0 . 1 % f - 127 , 5 μm of fluo - 4 - am , m fluorescent dye were added and loaded at 25 ° c . out of light for 30 min . after dye loading , the redundant dye was washed out and buffer and test compounds were added respectively . the cells were put in a closed chamber on a microscope stage . fluorescence dyed cells were detected with appropriate conditions . the change of fluorescence intensity in each cell was determined and the data were analyzed by software . the change of the intracellular calcium concentration was indicated by fluorescence intensity . the change degree of the intracellular calcium concentration was represented by the percent ratio of the change value of fluorescence intensity before and after administration and the value of fluorescence intensity before administration ( δ [ ca2 +] i ), i . e . δ [ ca2 +] i =( fluorescence intensity value after administration f - fluorescence intensity value before administration f0 )/ fluorescence intensity value before administration f0 × 100 %. the change of the intracellular calcium concentration indicated the function of trp . inhibition on proliferation of human cancer cells : it is reported that the drugs that up - regulate trpm8 or down - regulate trpv1 can inhibit proliferation of breast cancer . to further investigate whether neferine follow the same way , human breast cancer cell line mda - mb - 231 and mda - mb - 453 as well as cancer gene - containing human breast gland epithelial cell line mcf10a - myc and human pancreatic cancer cell line miapaca - 2 were employed and cultured in dmem or dmem / f12 medium with epithelial growth factor in vitro . after incubation with various concentrations of test agents for 72 h , the effective concentration of them for inhibiting the tumor cells was assayed according to the common method in the art . experiment data were represented with mean ± sd ( x ± s ). multi sample comparing uses one - way anovas and double sample comparing uses t - test . statistical difference was considered when p - value & lt ; 0 . 05 . effect of neferine on trpm8 mrna expression in drg cells under normal ambient temperature ( 37 ° c .) the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 24 h . the total rna was extracted immediately after culture . the trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol was positive control group and the normal culture medium was vehicle control group . then the real - time pcr amplification was performed and trpm8 mrna was determined . as indicated in table 1 , neferine could up - regulate the expression levels of trpm8 mrna dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient 0 . 98 ); the effect was more significant when the dose was more than 5 μmol / l ( i . e . 10 μmol / l ). the previous studies had shown that high temperature ( e . g . 39 ° c .) could inhibit trpm8 expression . the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 23 h followed by 39 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 1 h . the total rna was extracted immediately after culture . the trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol was positive control group and the normal culture medium was vehicle control group . then the real - time pcr amplification was performed and trpm8 mrna was determined . as indicated in table 2 , neferine did not up - regulate trpm8 mrna expression . the previous studies had shown that low temperature could improve trpm8 expression . the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 22 h followed by 19 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 2 h . the total rna was extracted immediately after culture . the trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol was positive control group and the normal culture medium was vehicle control group . then the real - time pcr amplification was performed and trpm8 mrna was determined . as indicated in table 3 , neferine could up - regulate the expression levels of trpm8 mrna dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient 0 . 98 ). trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol also could up - regulate expression levels of trpm8 mrna dose - dependently . according to the protocol of example 1 , the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 24 h . the medium was discarded and the fluorescent dye was added and loaded for 30 min . the change of fluorescence intensity in cell was determined in a closed chamber on a microscope stage and the change of the intracellular calcium concentration was assayed . as indicated in table 4 , neferine could increase the intracellular calcium concentration dose - dependently as same as trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol ( correlation coefficient is 0 . 86 and 0 . 94 ). the effect was more significant when the dose is more than 5 μmol / l ( i . e . 10 μmol / l ). according to the protocol in example 2 , the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 22 h followed by 2 h at 39 ° c . ( the experiment data of the peak value of calcium change after stimulated under high temperature was not shown here ). the medium was discarded and the fluorescent dye was added and loaded for 30 min . the change of fluorescence intensity in cell was determined in a closed chamber on a microscope stage and the change of the intracellular calcium concentration was assayed . as indicated in table 5 , the change of intracellular calcium concentration was inhibited after high temperature treatment . the test compound could increase the concentration of intracellular calcium dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient & gt ; 0 . 93 ) as same as trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol . the effect was more significant when the dose was more than 5 μmol / l ( i . e . 10 μmol / l ). the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 24 h . the total rna was extracted immediately after culture . the trpm8 agonist hexahydrothymol was positive control group and the normal culture medium was vehicle group . then the real - time pcr amplification was performed and trpv1 mrna was determined . as indicated in table 6 , neferine and hexahydrothymol could not change expression levels of trpv1 mrna under the test concentrations . the previous studies had shown that high temperatures could improve trpv1 expression . the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 23 h followed by 39 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 1 h ( this is the appropriate stimulation time for 39 ° c ., and the experiment data was not shown ). the total rna was extracted immediately after culture . the trpm1 antagonist hexahydrothymol was positive control group and the normal culture medium was vehicle group . then the real - time pcr amplification was performed and trpv1 mrna was determined . as shown in table 7 , neferine could decrease the expression levels of trpv1 mrna dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient − 0 . 99 ). the effect was more significant when the dose was more than 2 . 5 μmol / l ( i . e . 5 μmol / l ). the previous studies had shown that low temperatures ( e . g . 19 ° c .) could inhibit trpv1 expression . the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 22 h followed by at 19 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 2 h ( this is the appropriate stimulation time for 19 ° c ., and the experiment data was not shown ). the total rna was extracted immediately after culture . the trpm1 antagonist hexahydrothymol was positive control group and the normal culture medium was vehicle control group . then the real - time pcr amplification was performed and trpv1 mrna was determined . as shown in table 8 , neferine could further inhibit expression levels of trpv1 mrna dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient − 0 . 87 ) as same as hexahydrothymol . according to the protocol in example 1 , the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 24 h . the medium was discarded and the fluorescent dye was added and loaded for 30 min . the change of fluorescence intensity in cell was determined in a closed chamber on a microscope stage and the change of the intracellular calcium concentration was assayed . as shown in table 8 , neferine could decrease the concentration of intracellular calcium dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient is − 0 . 85 ). according to the protocol in example 2 , the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co2 for 22 h followed by 39 ° c . for 2 h ( the experiment data of the peak value of calcium change after stimulated under high temperature was not shown here ). the medium was discarded and the fluorescent dye was added and loaded for 30 min . the change of fluorescence intensity in cell was determined in a closed chamber on a microscope stage and the change of the intracellular calcium concentration was assayed . as shown in table 9 , the change of intracellular calcium concentration could be activated after high temperature treatment . neferine could inhibit the change of the intracellular calcium concentration dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient − 0 . 815 ). the effect was more significant when the dose was more than 2 . 5 μmol / l ( i . e . 10 μmol / l ). according to the protocol in example 1 , the purified culture medium of drg cells was added with three different concentrations of test compounds and cultured at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 21 h followed by 3 h at 19 ° c . ( this is the appropriate stimulation time for the intracellular calcium change after stimulation under 19 ° c ., and the experiment data was not shown ). the medium was discarded and the fluorescent dye was added and loaded for 30 min . the change of fluorescence intensity in cell was determined in a closed chamber on a microscope stage and the change of the intracellular calcium concentration was assayed . as shown in table 11 , the change of the intracellular calcium concentration could be inhibited after low temperature treatment . neferine could further inhibit the change of the intracellular calcium concentration dose - dependently ( correlation coefficient − 0 . 99 ). according to the “ inhibition on proliferation of human cancer cells ” described above , the effective concentrations of neferine for the inhibition of tumors were obtained ( table 11 ). a strong inhibition of neferine on breast cancer cells with a concentration below 2 . 1 μg / ml was shown and a inhibition concentration below 4 μg / ml was shown for pancreas . according to the method commonly known in the art , 35 g of commercial neferine was added into three times auxiliary material such as calcium carbonate and the mixture was granulated or directly pressed into tablets or coated to form 1000 tablets with each tablet containing 35 mg of neferine . alternatively , the mixture can be put into 1000 hard capsules with each containing 35 mg of neferine . the above - mentioned preparations may be administrated orally as trpm8 agonists for the treatment of chronic obstructive lung disease , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , painful bladder syndrome , cold hypergesia , melanoma and prostate cancer and the like . alternatively , they may also be used as trpv1 antagonists for the treatment of pain , inflammation , schizophrenia , myasthenia syndrome , non - insulin - dependent diabetes , breast cancer and the like . according to the method commonly known in the art , 35 g of commercial neferine was added with polyoxyethylene hydrogenated castor oil and mixed to produce 1000 injections , or the mixture was further merged into injection saline to produce 1000 injections with each containing 35 mg of neferine . the above - mentioned preparations may be used as trpm8 agonists for the treatment of chronic obstructive lung disease , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , painful bladder syndrome , cold hyperalgesia , melanoma , prostate cancer . alternatively , they may also be used as trpv1 antagonists for the treatment of pain , inflammation , schizophrenia , myasthenia syndrome , non - insulin - dependent diabetes , breast cancer and the like . according to the method commonly known in the art , the neferine may be prepared into emplastrum with appropriate matrix and material for the skin application to create corresponding topical or general effective . kiselyov k ., soyombo a ., muallem s . : trppathies . j . physiol . 2007 ; 578 : 641 - 6530 . nilius b ., owsianik g ., voets t ., peters j a . : transient receptor potential cation channels in disease . physiol . rev . 2007 ; 87 : 165 - 217 . abramowitz j ., birnbaumer l . : physiology and pathophysiology of canonical transient receptor potential channels . faseb j , october 2008 ; 10 . 1096 / fj . 08 - 119495 . sabnis a s ., shadid m ., yost g s ., reilly c a . : human lung epithelial cells express a functional cold - sensing trpm8 variant . am . j . respir . cell mol . biol . 2008 ; 39 : 466 - 474 . yamamura h ., ugawa s ., ueda t ., morita a ., shimada s . : trpm8 activation suppresses cellular viability in human melanoma . am j physiol cell physiol . 2008 ; 295 : c296 - c301 . ashinger e s r ., steiginga m s ., hieble j p ., leon l a ., gardner s d ., nagilla r ., davenport e a ., hoffman b e ., laping n j ., su x . : amtb , a trpm8 channel blocker : evidence in rats for activity in overactive bladder and painful bladder syndrome . am j physiol renal physiol . 2008 ; 295 : f803 - f810 . szallasi a ., cortright d n ., blum c a ., eid s r . : the vanilloid receptor trpv1 : 10 years from channel cloning to antagonist proof of concept . nature rev . drug discovery 2007 , 6 ( 5 ) : 357 - 372 . okuhara d y ., hsia a y ., xie m . : transient receptor potential channels as drug targets . expert opinion on therapeutic targets 2007 ; 11 ( 3 ) : 391 - 401 .
the present invention reveals a new use of neferine . neferine regulates m8 and v1 subtype of transient receptor potential ion channel , respectively , in mammalians , including humans , and can be used for preparing medicaments for treating disease related to said ion channel . the potency of neferine in the present invention is higher than that of hexahydrothymol .