Symptoms of neuropathic spinal cord injury (SCI) pain include evoked cutaneous hypersensitivity and spontaneous pain, which can be present below the level of the injury. Adverse side-effects obtained with currently available analgesics complicate effective pain management in SCI patients. Voltage-gated Na(+) channels expressed in primary afferent nociceptors have been identified to mediate persistent hyperexcitability in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons, which in part underlies the symptoms of nerve injury-induced pain. Ambroxol has previously demonstrated antinociceptive effects in rat chronic pain models and has also shown to potently block Na(+) channel current in DRG neurons. Ambroxol was tested in rats that underwent a mid-thoracic spinal cord compression injury. Injured rats demonstrated robust hind paw (below-level) heat and mechanical hypersensitivity. Orally administered ambroxol significantly attenuated below-level hypersensitivity at doses that did not affect performance on the rotarod test. Intrathecal injection of ambroxol did not ameliorate below-level hypersensitivity. The current data suggest that ambroxol could be effective for clinical neuropathic SCI pain. Furthermore, the data suggest that peripherally expressed Na(+) channels could lend themselves as targets for the development of pharmacotherapies for SCI pain
Keywords : Ambroxol,Analgesics,Animals,Behavior,Animal,complications,drug effects,drug therapy,etiology,Hot Temperature,Hyperalgesia,Injections,Spinal,injuries,Male,Motor Activity,Neuralgia,Neurons,Nociceptors,Pain,Pain Management,Pain Measurement,Pain Threshold,Paralysis,pharmacology,Physical Stimulation,Postural Balance,psychology,Rats,Rats,Sprague-Dawley,Sodium Channel Blockers,Spinal Cord,Spinal Cord Compression,Spinal Cord Injuries,, Effect,Ambroxol,Rats, back consultant
Date of Publication : 2010 Dec
Authors : Hama AT;Plum AW;Sagen J;
Organisation : The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA. ahama@med.miami.edu
Journal of Publication : Pharmacol Biochem Behav
Pubmed Link : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20732348
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