Pain
-
The Transtheoretical model of stages of behaviour change has stimulated research interest in relation to chronic pain, yet studies using the Pain Stages of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ; Pain (72) 1997 227) have reported inconsistent findings and have generally utilized pain-clinic samples. The aims of the current study were to assess the general validity of the PSOCQ with a non-pain-clinic sample of patients with chronic pain, and to examine the utility of the stages of change model as applied to this population. ⋯ The findings demonstrated a number of limitations of the PSOCQ in terms of its ability to classify individuals into specific stages of change. The stages of change model requires adaptation in order to be useful for treatment planning in a non-pain-clinic sample of patients with chronic pain.
-
Using a model of visceral nociception, we examined whether cholecystokinin (CCK) acts as an anti-opioid peptide in the rat rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM). Because such interaction may be affected by inflammation, rats with and without inflamed colons were studied. The visceromotor response to noxious colorectal distension (CRD), quantified electromyographically, was recorded before and after intra-RVM administration of CCK, CCK receptor antagonists, and morphine. ⋯ Intra-RVM CCK-8 peptide enhanced responses to CRD in intracolonic vehicle-treated, but not TNBS-treated rats. Intra-RVM naloxone was without effect in intracolonic vehicle-or TNBS-treated rats, suggesting an absence of tonic opioid activity in RVM. These results document a CCK-opioid interaction in RVM, suggesting that colon inflammation leads to tonic activity at CCK(B) receptors in RVM.
-
In this study, a new behavioral assessment of craniofacial muscle pain in the lightly anesthetized rat is described. Intramuscular injections with algesic agents in lightly anesthetized rats evoked a characteristic ipsilateral hindpaw shaking behavior for several minutes similar to previously described orofacial pain-induced grooming behavior in awake rats (Neurosci Lett 103 (1989) 349, Pain 62 (1995) 295). Eighty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in a series of experiments to study whether this behavior could serve as a valid measure of craniofacial muscle pain. ⋯ Finally, we showed that systemic administration of morphine sulfate (3 and 0.3 mg/kg, i.p.) dose dependently attenuated mustard oil induced hindpaw-shaking behavior. Lidocaine injected locally 5 min prior to mustard oil injection also significantly decreased the hindpaw shaking behavior. Based on these results we concluded that ipsilateral hindpaw shaking in lightly anesthetized rats is a stereotypical behavior evoked by noxious muscle stimulation and can be used as a reliable behavioral measure to assess craniofacial muscle pain.
-
The spinothalamic tract (STT) has been classically viewed as the major ascending pathway for pain transmission while the dorsal column (DC) was thought to be involved primarily in signaling innocuous stimuli. Recent clinical studies have shown that limited midline myelotomy, which transects fibers in the DC, offers good pain relief in patients with visceral cancer pain. Experimental studies provided evidence that a DC lesion decreases the activation of thalamic neurons by visceral stimuli and suggested that this effect is due to transection of the axons of postsynaptic dorsal column (PSDC) neurons. ⋯ Intradermal capsaicin injection also evoked Fos expression in both PSDC and STT neurons, but with no significant difference between these two, when expressed as a percentage of the retrogradely labeled cells (11.6+/-2.9% SEM, 10.8+/-1.1% SEM). These results show that both PSDC and STT neurons are activated by cutaneous and visceral noxious stimuli. Their particular role in transmission and modulation of painful stimuli needs to be investigated further.
-
Comparative Study
A substance P receptor (NK1) antagonist can reverse vascular and nociceptive abnormalities in a rat model of complex regional pain syndrome type II.
Sciatic nerve section in rats evokes chronic hindlimb edema, pain behavior, and hyperalgesia, a syndrome resembling complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS II) in man. Furthermore, there is an increase in spontaneous protein extravasation in the hindpaw skin of rats after sciatic transection, similar to the increased protein extravasation observed in the edematous limbs of CRPS patients. Now we demonstrate that sciatic nerve section also generates chronic hindlimb warmth, distal articular tenderness, allodynia, and periarticular osteoporosis, sequelae of nerve injury resembling those observed in CRPS. ⋯ Systemic administration of LY303870 also reversed hindpaw edema and cutaneous warmth. Intrathecal, but not systemic administration of LY303870 reversed soft tissue and articular mechanical hyperalgesia in the hindpaw. Collectively, these data further support the hypothesis that the sciatic nerve transection model closely resembles CRPS and that substance P contributes to the spontaneous extravasation, edema, warmth, and mechanical hyperalgesia observed in this model.