Neurobiology of disease
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Neurobiology of disease · Mar 2009
Beta2-adrenoceptors are essential for desipramine, venlafaxine or reboxetine action in neuropathic pain.
Neuropathic pain is a disease caused by a lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system. Antidepressants or anticonvulsants are presently the best available treatments. The mechanism by which antidepressants relieve neuropathic pain remains poorly understood. ⋯ We showed that chronic antidepressant treatment suppressed cuff-induced allodynia in wild-type mice but not in beta(2)-AR deficient mice, and/or that this antiallodynic action was blocked by intraperitoneal or intrathecal injection of the beta(2)-AR antagonist ICI 118,551 but not by the alpha(2)-AR antagonist yohimbine. We also showed that the anticonvulsant gabapentin was still effective in beta(2)-AR deficient mice. Our results demonstrate that beta(2)-ARs are essential for the antiallodynic action of antidepressant drugs.