• Takashi Kudo, Tetsuya Kushikata, Mihoko Kudo, Tsuyoshi Kudo, and Kazuyoshi Hirota.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, 5 Zaifu-cho, Hirosaki 036-8562, Japan.
• Neurosci. Lett. 2010 Sep 6; 481 (2): 102-4.

AbstractNeuropathic pain models are classified as central and peripheral pain models. Although various peripheral neuropathic pain models are established, central pain models are based only on spinal cord injury. DSP-4 is a competitive inhibitor of norepinephrine uptake that selectively degenerates the locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenergic neurons projection to the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. In the present study, we have tested whether lesion of LC-noradrenergic neurons by ip DSP-4 (0, 10, 30, 50 mg/kg, n=7 each) could provide a new central neuropathic pain model in rats using a hot-plate and tail-flick tests. DSP-4 significantly reduced the hot-plate latency and norepinephrine contents especially in the coerulean regions. However, DSP-4 did not change tail-flick latency. There are significant correlations of the latency in the hot-plate test with norepinephrine contents in the cerebral cortex (r=0.432, p=0.022), the hippocampus (r=0.465, p=0.013) and the pons (r=0.400, p=0.035) but not with those in the hypothalamus and the spinal cord. As response to hot-plate and tail-flick implies supra-spinal process and spinal reflex, respectively, central neuropathic pain may be facilitated by DSP-4 depleting LC-noradrenergic neurons although the present data are preliminary.Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

34 keywords...

hide…