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Query: UMLS:C0030193 (pain)
 261,466 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The effect of morphine and naloxone on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration in discrete areas of the rat brain has been studied. Neither morphine nor naloxone had a significant effect on regional steady-state concentrations of GABA. The results have been discussed with respect to the role of GABA in pain and analgesia.
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PMID:Is GABA involved in analgesia? 64 28

The effects of aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA) and baclofen on the catalepsy, striatal homovanillic acid (HVA) increase and antinociception caused by methadone were studied in rats. Antinociceptive responses were tested by the electric foot-shock method. A new type of stimulator unit which delivered nearly constant current over a wide range of output voltage and which was noiseless was designed and its construction is described. AOAA (25 mg/kg) which increases the cerebral concentration of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and baclofen (10 mg/kg), a structural analogue of GABA, did not change the catalepsy induced by methadone (5 mg/kg). AOAA (25 and 50 mg/kg) alone did not alter the striatal HVA content and had no effect on the methadone induced HVA increase. Baclofen (10 mg/kg) increased the striatal HVA content by 19% (P less than 0.01) and reduced the methadone-induced HVA increase by 36% (P less than 0.01). AOAA (25 mg/kg). These results suggest that narcotic analgesics might cause catalepsy and increase striatal dopamine turnover by some other mechanism than neuroleptics. The results support the suggestion that GABA might be involved in pain mechanisms.
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PMID:Effects of aminooxyacetic acid and baclofen on catalepsy, striatal homovanillic acid increase and antinociception caused by methadone in rats. 99 37

Chronic deafferentation of skin and peripheral tissues is associated with plasticity of representational maps in cerebral cortex and with perturbations of sensory experience that include severe "central" pain. This study shows that in normal monkeys the nonnociceptive, lemniscal component of the somatosensory pathways at spinal, brainstem, and thalamic levels is distinguished by cells and fibers immunoreactive for the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin, whereas cells of the nociceptive component at these levels are distinguished by immunoreactivity for 28-kDa calbindin. Long-term dorsal rhizotomies in monkeys lead to transneuronal degeneration of parvalbumin cells at brainstem and thalamic sites accompanied in the thalamus by a down-regulation of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors and an apparent increase in activity of calbindin cells preferentially innervated by central pain pathways. Release from inhibition and imbalance in patterns of somatosensory inputs from thalamus to cerebral cortex may constitute subcortical mechanisms for inducing changes in representational maps and perturbations of sensory perception, including central pain.
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PMID:Chronic deafferentation in monkeys differentially affects nociceptive and nonnociceptive pathways distinguished by specific calcium-binding proteins and down-regulates gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors at thalamic levels. 131 62

The synaptic relationships between gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-immunoreactive and enkephalin-immunoreactive profiles in the cat spinal cord were examined using combined pre-embedding immunoperoxidase and post-embedding immunogold electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. Although colchicine was not used, enkephalin-immunoreactive somata and dendrites were detected in regions associated with nociceptive transmission, including laminae I, II, V and X. In each of these laminae, many GABA-immunoreactive terminals were found presynaptic to enkephalin-immunoreactive cell bodies and dendrites. We propose that disinhibition of opioid-containing neurons may be a common feature of pain-related circuits in the cat spinal cord.
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PMID:Ultrastructural evidence for GABA-mediated disinhibitory circuits in the spinal cord of the cat. 140 60

Intralaminar thalamic nuclei have been considered to be a component of the non-specific sensory system which is involved in physiological functions related to consciousness and pain sensation. The effect of halothane on membrane potentials and synaptic properties of neurons of the parafascicular (Pf) nucleus in guinea pig brain slices was investigated using intracellular recording methods. Halothane at concentrations of 0.4-1.0 mM, which are in the range of clinical concentrations, produced hyperpolarizations of 2-8 mV in approximately 50% of the cells. The halothane-induced hyperpolarization was nullified at a membrane potential close to the K+ equilibrium potential. The amplitude of the hyperpolarization was dependent on the external K+ concentration, and was decreased by either Ba2+, or 4-aminopyridine, or intracellular injection of Cs+. All these results indicate that the hyperpolarization was due to an increase in K+ conductance. Halothane at clinical concentrations depressed both excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials in a concentration-dependent manner. On the other hand hyperpolarizing responses to exogenous gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the presence of bicuculline were suppressed by halothane, but depolarizing responses to L-glutamate were not altered. The results indicate that the depressant action of the anesthetic on the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) may occur presynaptically, whereas the blocking action on the inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP) may occur postsynaptically.
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PMID:Halothane-induced hyperpolarization and depression of postsynaptic potentials of guinea pig thalamic neurons in vitro. 151 14

We endeavored to determine whether three behavioral effects of melatonin in rodents, i.e., depression of locomotor activity in hamsters, analgesia in mice, and impairment of 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MP) convulsions, exhibited the time dependency known to occur for several neuroendocrine effects of the hormone. Activity was monitored and registered by means of an optical actometer, and analgesia was assessed by the hot-plate procedure. Locomotor activity, analgesia, and seizure susceptibility were maximal at the beginning of the scotophase and minimal at noon. The effects of melatonin on the three parameters peaked at early night. The administration of the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil, although unable by itself to modify locomotor activity, pain, or seizure threshold, blunted the activity of melatonin. These results suggest that the time-dependent effects of melatonin on specific rodent behaviors may be mediated by central synapses employing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as an inhibitory transmitter.
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PMID:Chronopharmacology of melatonin: inhibition by benzodiazepine antagonism. 156 63

The synthetic steroid anesthetic alphaxalone (3 alpha-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnane-11,20-dione) was studied in two behavioral paradigms known to be sensitive to anxiolytic drugs. In an elevated plus maze, alphaxalone produced an anxiolytic profile, significantly increasing the percentage of entries made into the open arms as well as the percentage of time spent on the open arms. In the conflict test, alphaxalone (6 and 8 mg/kg) produced a significant dose-dependent increase in punished responding and a decrease (8 mg/kg) in unpunished responding. The pattern of responding was similar to that observed with the benzodiazepine agonist chlordiazepoxide (2-8 mg/kg). The increase in punished responding was not altered by the benzodiazepine antagonist Ro 15-1788 and only partially blocked by the picrotoxinin receptor ligand isopropylbicyclophospate (10 and 15 micrograms/kg). The gamma-aminobutyric acid agonists picrotoxin (1 mg/kg) and bicuculline (1 mg/kg) also failed to suppress the rate-increasing effects of alphaxalone in the conflict test. Chronic administration of alphaxalone for 1 week produced no tolerance to the anxiolytic behavioral effects. In addition, no changes in pain threshold were noted with alphaxalone (8 mg/kg) in the tail-flick analgesia test. These results suggest that the pharmacologic substrates for the anxiolytic actions of alphaxalone may be independent of either the benzodiazepine or picrotoxinin binding sites of the gamma-aminobutyric acid/benzodiazepine receptor complex.
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PMID:Anxiolytic activity of steroid anesthetic alphaxalone. 167 35

The role of the red nucleus (RN) in nociception was investigated in this study. Extracellular recordings from spontaneously active RN neurons were conducted in the rat while noxious pressure was delivered to the hindpaws or tail. Cells in the RN were predominantly inhibited by the stimuli. The units were most responsive when noxious pressure was applied to the contralateral hindpaw. Furthermore, more cells in the magnocellular division of the RN responded to the stimuli than cells in the parvocellular division. Delivery of a graded pressure stimulus to the contralateral hindpaw revealed 4 cell types in the RN: non-responsive cells; cells only responsive during the early, non-noxious portion of the stimulus; cells only responsive during the later, noxious portion of the stimulus; and cells that showed an initial response during the non-noxious part of the stimulus and a second, later response during the noxious portion of the stimulus. To further examine the putative role of the RN in nociception, oxotremorine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), serotonin, glutamate, and morphine were unilaterally microinjected into the RN and the responses of the animals in the tail flick test were assessed. Only morphine produced a significant antinociception in the animals following intrarubral microinjection. However, it is unclear whether this alteration was mediated through the RN because an antinociception of equal magnitude could be elicited from the reticular formation surrounding the RN and lesions of the RN did not alter the antinociception produced by systemic administration of morphine. Although other explanations cannot be ruled out, it appears that the RN may be involved in coordinating the motor response to pain rather than modulating sensory transmission.
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PMID:Inhibition of rubral neurons by noxious and non-noxious pressure. 168 7

This review summarized some articles on the effect of the septal area in acupuncture analgesia. The data showed that the pain threshold of animal was increased when septal area was stimulated by electro-acupuncture, and that electrical stimulation of septal area had a marked inhibitory effect on the pain discharges of cells in parafascicular nucleus of thalamus, lateral habenular nucleus, periaqueductal gray and dorsal raphe nucleus. The septal area play an important role in acupuncture analgesia. The majority of the cholinergic neurons in septal area are located in nucleus of the vertical limb of the diagonal band (VDB); gamma-aminobutyric acid of septal area is mainly found in the diagonal band nucleus(td); Dopamine is present in high levels in td and lateral septal nucleus(S1) of septal area; The S1 contain high densities enkephalin-containing neuronal cell bodies and terminals; In addition, substance P and norepinephrine are also high levels in the septal area. These substance above-mentioned have a relations with acupuncture analgesia of septal area. A large number of serotonin-containing neurons are found in the raphe nuclei. The serotonin play an important role in acupuncture analgesia. The serotonin-containing neurons in dorsal raphe nucleus project to S1. The fiber connections of the raphe nuclei with the td are reciprocation. The periaqueductal gray is a important structure on pain modulation. It projects to septal area and receives the fibers from S1. A number of adrenergic neurons are located within the locus coeruleus. The locus coeruleus participate pain modulation and acupuncture analgesia. The neuro-anatomy study demonstrated that locus coeruleus projects to septal area.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[The effect of the septal area in acupuncture analgesia]. 169 24

1. To study physiological roles of substance P (SP), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), enkephalins and other endogenous substances, we developed several kinds of isolated spinal cord preparations of newborn rats. 2. In these preparations, various slow responses of spinal neurons evoked by stimulation of primary afferent C fibers were depressed by a tachykinin antagonist, spantide. These results together with many other lines of evidence suggest that SP and neurokinin A serve as pain transmitters in a subpopulation of primary afferent C fibers. 3. Some C-fiber responses in various isolated spinal cord preparations were depressed by GABA, muscimol, and opioid peptides. In contrast, bicuculline (GABA antagonist) and naloxone (opioid antagonist) potentiated the "tail pinch potential," i.e., a nociceptive response of the ventral root evoked by pinch stimulation of the tail in isolated spinal cord-tail preparation of the newborn rat. The latter results support the hypothesis that some primary afferents activate inhibitory spinal interneurons which release GABA and enkephalins as transmitters to modulate pain inputs.
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PMID:Pain and neurotransmitters. 170 58


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