• W Di, Z-Y Zheng, Z-J Xiao, W-W Qi, X-L Shi, N Luo, J-W Lin, M-H Ding, A-W Zhang, and Y-N Fang.
• Guangdong Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Major Neurological Diseases, Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China; Department of Neurology, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an 710068, China.
• Neuroscience. 2015 Jan 22;284:11-7.

AbstractThe association between the clinical use of nitroglycerin (NTG) and migraine suggests NTG as an animal model trigger for migraine. NTG-induced hyperalgesia in rats has been extensively used as a migraine model for pre-clinical research. Pregabalin is an anti-epileptic drug and may play a role in the preventive treatment of migraine; however, the mechanism of this action remains to be clarified. Herein, we performed the present study to investigate the effect of pregabalin on the NTG-induced hyperalgesia in rats. Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided equally into six groups. Thirty minutes before NTG injection, the rats were pretreated with pregabalin. von Frey hair testing was employed to evaluate tactile sensitivity. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to analyze plasma calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) levels in the jugular vein. Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect c-Fos-immunoreactive neurons and western blot was performed to detect c-Fos protein expression in trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC). We found that pregabalin pretreatment alleviated the NTG-induced hyperalgesia. Moreover, pregabalin suppressed peripheral CGRP release, c-Fos-immunoreactive neurons and the protein expression of c-Fos in TNC as well. These data suggest that pregabalin could alleviate the NTG-induced hyperalgesia. Further studies are required to determine the mechanisms of action for this effect.Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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