Pharmacol Rep
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Neuropathic pain, is caused by damage or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system, leads to deterioration of the quality of life of patients. Most commonly, this deterioration is due to the inefficacy of treatment or to the adverse effects of systemic treatment. Pharmacotherapy of neuropathic pain involves the use of antiepileptic agents, antidepressants, and opioids that may lead to numerous adverse effects, particularly in elderly patients. Intravenous infusions of lidocaine may improve the efficacy of the analgesic treatment of neuropathic pain patients while not causing any significant adverse effects. ⋯ The best therapeutic effects of lidocaine infusion was observed in pain symptoms characterized by the highest intensity of baseline pain. Intravenous lidocaine administered at the dose of 5mg/kg of body weight over 30min is effective, safe and caused no significant adverse effects.
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Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a transient propagating excitation of synaptic activity followed by depression, which is implicated in migraine with aura and is regarded as the underlying cause of migraine. Calcitonin-gene related peptide (CGRP) receptors play a crucial role in mediating the magnitude of CSD in rat cortical slice. This study aimed to examine whether CGRP receptors are involved in retinal spreading depression (RSD) in chicks. ⋯ The data suggest that CGRP receptors mediate RSD propagation involving neuronal mechanism and approve that RSD is an efficient in vitro approach for assessing anti-migraine drugs targeting CGRP receptors.