Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2012
Intrathecal oxytocin inhibits visceromotor reflex and spinal neuronal responses to noxious distention of the rat urinary bladder.
Oxytocin (OXY) is a neuropeptide that has recently been recognized as an important component of descending analgesic systems. The present study sought to determine if OXY produces antinociception to noxious visceral stimulation. ⋯ These results argue that intrathecal OXY produces an OXY receptor-specific antinociception to noxious UBD, with part of this effect due to inhibition of spinal dorsal horn neurons. To our knowledge, these studies provide the first evidence that intrathecal OXY may be an effective pharmacological treatment for visceral pain.