Pregabalin attenuates place escape/avoidance behavior in a rat model of spinal cord injury

Baastrup, Cathrine; Jensen, Troels Staehelin; Finnerup, Nanna Brix

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2010.11.008

Cited by 53 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In one example of preclinical drug testing, gabapentin reduced the affective PEAP response in this rat model consistent with gabapentin being efficacious in treating patients with HZ associated pain [45]. It is interesting to note that anxiety-like behaviors were not reversed by gabapentin treatment in previous studies [20], but gabapentin does effect the PEAP measurement (reverse the aversive behavior), consistent with the idea that anxiety does not bias the PEAP measurement [36, 46]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…One explanation for this inconsistency would be that adjuvant induces pain through a different mechanism than VZV. Behavioral tests, such as the PEAP test, require supraspinal pain processing and would be useful in the drug development for patients [36, 37]. In one example of preclinical drug testing, gabapentin reduced the affective PEAP response in this rat model consistent with gabapentin being efficacious in treating patients with HZ associated pain [45].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Sex differences underlying orofacial varicella zoster associated pain in rats

et al. 2017

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BackgroundMost people are initially infected with varicella zoster virus (VZV) at a young age and this infection results in chickenpox. VZV then becomes latent and reactivates later in life resulting in herpes zoster (HZ) or “shingles”. Often VZV infects neurons of the trigeminal ganglia to cause ocular problems, orofacial disease and occasionally a chronic pain condition termed post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). To date, no model has been developed to study orofacial pain related to varicella zoster. Importantly, the incidence of zoster associated pain and PHN is known to be higher in women, although reasons for this sex difference remain unclear. Prior to this work, no animal model was available to study these sex-differences. Our goal was to develop an orofacial animal model for zoster associated pain which could be utilized to study the mechanisms contributing to this sex difference.MethodsTo develop this model VZV was injected into the whisker pad of rats resulting in IE62 protein expression in the trigeminal ganglia; IE62 is an immediate early gene in the VZV replication program.ResultsSimilar to PHN patients, rats showed retraction of neurites after VZV infection. Treatment of rats with gabapentin, an agent often used to combat PHN, ameliorated the pain response after whisker pad injection. Aversive behavior was significantly greater for up to 7 weeks in VZV injected rats over control inoculated rats. Sex differences were also seen such that ovariectomized and intact female rats given the lower dose of VZV showed a longer affective response than male rats. The phase of the estrous cycle also affected the aversive response suggesting a role for sex steroids in modulating VZV pain.ConclusionsThese results suggest that this rat model can be utilized to study the mechanisms of 1) orofacial zoster associated pain and 2) the sex differences underlying zoster associated pain.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Sex differences underlying orofacial varicella zoster associated pain in rats

et al. 2017

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“…An experimenter applies mechanical stimuli in the dark room to a location below or at the level of lesion potentially affected by maladaptive sensory changes [20,33,34]. In the light room the animal are either not stimulated or receive stimulation at a control site above the lesion [20,33,34]. The motivation to escape the mechanical aversive stimulus is opposed to rodents’ aversion to bright light, biasing the test against false positives.…”

Section: 1 Behavioral Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One limitation of this paradigm is that it is a learned task and can only be applied once [20]. Previous studies in both contusion and transection models of thoracic SCI were able to measure at-level hypersensitivity at the thorax and the forepaws [20,33,34]. The one study that assessed below-level hypersensitivity with the PEAP did not see a change in response due to below-level stimulation.…”

Section: 1 Behavioral Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessments of sensory plasticity after spinal cord injury across species

Haefeli

Huie

Morioka

et al. 2017

Neuroscience Letters

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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a multifaceted phenomenon associated with alterations in both motor function and sensory function. A majority of patients with SCI report sensory disturbances, including not only loss of sensation, but in many cases enhanced abnormal sensation, dysesthesia and pain. Development of therapeutics to treat these abnormal sensory changes require common measurement tools that can enable cross-species translation from animal models to human patients. We review the current literature on translational nociception/pain measurement in SCI and discuss areas for further development. Although a number of tools exist for measuring both segmental and affective sensory changes, we conclude that there is a pressing need for better, integrative measurement of nociception/pain outcomes across species to enhance precise therapeutic innovation for sensory dysfunction in SCI.

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“…Pregabalin administration was based on previous studies about the drug used in rat models of neuropathic pain (Tanabe et al, 2009;Baastrup et al, 2011;Bannister et al, 2011). NTG was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St.…”

Section: Drugsmentioning

confidence: 99%