Articles: hyperalgesia.
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The analgesic properties of antidepressants are often used in the treatment of neuropathy; however their influence on glial cells in maintaining neuropathic pain is unknown. Our studies examined the neuropathic pain-relieving properties after intraperitoneal injection of amitriptyline, doxepin, milnacipran, venlafaxine and fluoxetine 7 days after sciatic nerve injury (CCI) in rats and its influence on microglia/macrophages (IBA-1) and astroglia (GFAP) activation in the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) using Western blot. All tested antidepressants significantly reduced CCI-induced allodynia but hyperalgesia was only antagonised by fluoxetine, doxepine and venlafaxine. ⋯ No changes in the GFAP level in both structures were observed after any of listed above antidepressants administration. Chronic minocycline treatment enhanced amitriptyline and milnacipran, but did not fluoxetine analgesia under neuropathic pain in rats. Our results suggest that nerve injury-induced pain is related with the activation of microglia, which is diminished by fluoxetine treatment in the neuropathic pain model.
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We tested the hypothesis that chronic pain development (pain chronification) and ongoing chronic pain (chronic pain) reduce the activity and induce plastic changes in an endogenous analgesia circuit, the ascending nociceptive control. An important mechanism mediating this form of endogenous analgesia, referred to as capsaicin-induced analgesia, is its dependence on nucleus accumbens μ-opioid receptor mechanisms. Therefore, we also investigated whether pain chronification and chronic pain alter the requirement for nucleus accumbens μ-opioid receptor mechanisms in capsaicin-induced analgesia. ⋯ Intra-accumbens injection of the μ-opioid receptor selective antagonist Cys(2),Tyr(3),Orn(5),Pen(7)amide (CTOP) 10 min before the subcutaneous injection of capsaicin into the rat's fore paw blocked capsaicin-induced analgesia. Taken together, these findings indicate that pain chronification and chronic pain reduce the duration of capsaicin-induced analgesia, without affecting its dependence on nucleus accumbens μ-opioid receptor mechanisms. The attenuation of endogenous analgesia during pain chronification and chronic pain suggests that endogenous pain circuits play an important role in the development and maintenance of chronic pain.
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The endogenous tetrapeptide endomorphin-2 (EM2) participates in pain modulation by binding to pre- and/or post-synaptic μ opioid receptor (MOR). In the present study, pathological expression and antinociceptive effects of EM2 at the spinal level were investigated in a rat model of bone cancer pain. The model was established by introducing Walker 256 mammary gland carcinoma cells into the tibia medullary cavity. ⋯ Furthermore, topical application of EM2 dose-dependently inhibited the electrically evoked C-fiber responses and postdischarge of wide dynamic range (WDR) neurons within the spinal cord (p < 0.05), and pretreatment with β-FNA abolished the hyperactivity of these neurons. Compared with the antinociception of morphine which took effect from 40 min to 100 min post application, the analgesic action of EM2 was characterized by quick onset and short-lived efficacy (p < 0.05), being most potent at 10 min and lasting about 20 min. These findings indicate that the down-regulated spinal EM2 is an important contributor to the neuropathological process of bone cancer pain and enhancing activation of EM2/μ receptor signaling might provide a therapeutic alternative to optimizing the treatment of cancer-induced bone pain.
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Biochemical pharmacology · Feb 2015
GABAA α5 subunit-containing receptors do not contribute to reversal of inflammatory-induced spinal sensitization as indicated by the unique selectivity profile of the GABAA receptor allosteric modulator NS16085.
GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) mediate robust analgesia in animal models of pathological pain. Restoration of diminished spinal GABAA-α2 and -α3 subunit-containing receptor function is a principal contributor to this analgesia, albeit involvement of GABAA-α5-receptors has not been excluded. Thus, we compared NS11394 and TPA023 (PAMs with selectivity/efficacy at GABAA-α2/α3/α5 receptors) with TP003 (a reportedly GABAA-α3 selective PAM) against spinal sensitization. ⋯ In adult rats, NS16085 (3-30 mg/kg, p.o.) dose-dependently reduced formalin-induced hindpaw flinching with efficacy comparable to NS11394. Thus, potentiation of GABAA-α2 and-α3 receptors is sufficient to depress spinal sensitization and mediate analgesia after inflammatory injury. Positive modulation at GABAA-α5-receptors is apparently dispensable for this process, an important consideration given the role of this receptor subtype in cognitive function.