Neuropharmacology
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The treatment of chronic pain is hampered by various issues including multiple underlying mechanisms contributing to disease pathology and treatment-related toxicity concerns. These can be partially circumvented by combining mechanistically distinct drugs with the aim of selectively potentiating analgesia as opposed to side-effects. This approach has been used to assess the antinociceptive efficacy of the nicotinic acetylcholine (nACh) receptor agonist ABT-594 when combined with the antiepileptic drug gabapentin, the mu-opioid receptor agonist morphine or the antidepressant drug duloxetine in the rat formalin test. ⋯ Although a 3 fold increase in P2 antinociceptive potency was obtained with duloxetine in the presence of ABT-594, a corresponding increase in efficacy was lacking. Indeed, a mechanistically relevant reduction in antinociceptive efficacy and potency of duloxetine/ABT-594 occurred during interphase. Thus, activation of the nicotinic cholinergic system differentially modulates the antinociceptive actions of distinct mechanism of action compounds, and provides a novel framework for nACh receptor modulators mediating analgesia in the putative absence of adverse events associated with this mechanism of action.
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Activation of sodium channels is essential to action potential generation and propagation. Recent genetic and pharmacological evidence indicates that activation of Na(v)1.8 channels contributes to chronic pain. Herein, we describe the identification of a novel series of structurally related pyridine derivatives as potent Na(v)1.8 channel blockers. ⋯ Further characterization of TTX-R current block in rat DRG neurons demonstrated that A-887826 (100nM) shifted the mid-point of voltage-dependent inactivation of TTX-R currents by approximately 4mV without affecting voltage-dependent activation and did not exhibit frequency-dependent inhibition. The present data demonstrate that A-887826 is a structurally novel and potent Na(v)1.8 blocker that inhibits rat DRG TTX-R currents in a voltage-, but not frequency-dependent fashion. The ability of this structurally novel Na(v)1.8 blocker to effectively reduce tactile allodynia in neuropathic rats further supports the role of Na(v)1.8 sodium channels in pathological pain states.
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Exposure to the group I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonist dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) produces long-lasting changes in network excitability and epileptiform activity in the CA3 region of rat hippocampal slices that continues in the absence of the agonist and includes both interictal and more prolonged ictal-like activity. We evaluated the afterhyperpolarization (AHP) that follows repetitive neuronal firing in neurons exposed to DHPG and related the change in the AHP to the pattern of epileptiform activity. In contrast to neurons from control slices that had a robust AHP following neuronal depolarization and action potential generation, neurons that had been exposed to DHPG displayed a minimal AHP following depolarization. ⋯ Co-application of either 1-EBIO or DCEBIO with DHPG blocked the induction of epileptiform activity. Transient DHPG exposure caused a long-term suppression of the AHP and ictal patterns of epileptiform activity. 1-EBIO or DCEBIO which re-established both the medium and slow AHP suppressed ictal discharges. These results support the hypothesis that the loss of the AHP contributes to the generation of ictal activity after transient DHPG exposure.
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Icariin (ICA) has neuroprotection in oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) neurons by increasing Sirtuin1 (SIRT1). However, little is known about the role of ICA on stroke. SIRT1 is a class III histone deacetylase and activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1alpha) which stimulates mitochondrial activity. ⋯ Expressions of SIRT1 and PGC-1alpha were also investigated. In result, neurological scores, infarct size and brain edema were all significantly improved, the cortical expressions of SIRT1 and PGC-1alpha were higher with ICA compared to the control (P < 0.05), and reversed by SIRT1 inhibitor III/PGC-1alpha siRNA. In conclusion, ICA protects against brain ischemic injury by increasing the SIRT1 and PGC-1alpha expression, potentially to be a neuroprotectant for ischemic brain injury.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of diphenidol on blocking Na(+) currents and spinal anesthesia. We used the patch-clamp method to examine if diphenidol blocked Na(+) currents. Lidocaine, a common used local anesthesia, was used as control. ⋯ Although diphenidol had similar potencies of spinal anesthesia compared with lidocaine it produced a much longer duration of spinal blockades than lidocaine. Our results demonstrated that intrathecal diphenidol produced a long duration and similar potency on spinal anesthesia compared with lidocaine in rats. The anesthetic effect of diphenidol could be in part due to its blockade of Na(+) currents.