Articles: neuropathic-pain.
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Our previous work found that tumor suppressor menin potentiates spinal synaptic plasticity in the context of peripheral nerve injury-induced neuropathic hypersensitivity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not clear. We hereby assessed the role of menin in regulating the spinal balance between glutamate and GABA and its contribution to the pathological condition of nerve injury-induced hypersensitivity. ⋯ Our findings provide mechanistic insight into the contribution of the upregulated spinal menin to peripheral nerve injury induced neuropathic hypersensitivity by regulating glutamate-GABA balance through deactivating GAD65.
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To assess the efficacy and tolerability of topically applied low-concentration (less than 1%) capsaicin for treating chronic neuropathic pain in adults.
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Neurobiology of disease · Feb 2014
Riluzole attenuates neuropathic pain and enhances functional recovery in a rodent model of cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is the commonest cause of spinal cord impairment worldwide and despite surgical treatment, it is commonly associated with chronic neuropathic pain and neurological impairment. Based on data suggesting a key role of sodium and glutamate mediated cellular injury in models of spinal cord compression, we examined whether riluzole, a sodium channel/glutamate blocker, could improve neurobehavioral outcomes in a rat model of CSM. To produce chronic progressive compression of the cervical spinal cord, we used an established model of graded mechanical cord compromise developed in our laboratory. ⋯ Riluzole also decreased the number of phosphorylated NR1 and phosphorylated NR2B positive cells in the dorsal horns and the microglia activation in the dorsal horns. Together, our results indicate that systemic riluzole administration during chronic cervical spinal cord compression is effective at protecting spinal cord tissue, preserving neurobehavioral function and alleviating neuropathic pain, possibly by decreasing NMDA receptor phosphorylation in astrocytes and by eliminating microglia activation. As such, riluzole represents a promising clinical treatment for CSM.
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Experimental neurology · Feb 2014
Chronic ibuprofen administration reduces neuropathic pain but does not exert neuroprotection after spinal cord injury in adult rats.
Ibuprofen is commonly used as an anti-inflammatory analgesic drug, although it is not amongst the first-line treatments for neuropathic pain. Its main effects are mediated by non-specific inhibition of COX enzymes, but it also exerts some COX-independent effects, such as the inhibition of RhoA signaling and the modulation of glial activity. These effects have boosted the use of ibuprofen as a tool to promote axonal regeneration and to increase functional recovery after neural injuries, although with controversial results showing positive and negative outcomes of ibuprofen treatment in several experimental models. ⋯ Our results indicate that ibuprofen ameliorates mechanical hyperalgesia in rats by reducing central hyperexcitability, but failed to produce improvements in the recovery of locomotion. Despite an early effect on reducing microglial reactivity, the ibuprofen treatment did not provide histological evidence of neuroprotection; indeed the volume of cord tissue spared rostral to the lesion was decreased in ibuprofen treated rats. In summary, the early modulation of neuroinflammation produced by the administration of ibuprofen seems to eventually lead to a worse resolution of detrimental events occurring in the secondary injury phase, but also to reduce the development of neuropathic pain.
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Nutritional neuroscience · Feb 2014
Antinociceptive and antiallodynic effects of Momordica charantia L. in tibial and sural nerve transection-induced neuropathic pain in rats.
This study was designed to investigate the ameliorative potential of Momordica charantia L. (MC) in tibial and sural nerve transection (TST)-induced neuropathic pain in rats. ⋯ Collectively, it is speculated that PPAR-gamma agonistic activity, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative potential is critical for antinociceptive effect of MC in neuropathic pain.