Ethological and Physiological Effects of Ibuprofen , the Recently Most Used Analgesic ; a Study on Ants as Models

The previously most used analgesic, paracetamol, was found to have adverse effects, and nowadays, ibuprofen is often preferentially used. Here we examined the potential adverse effects of ibuprofen exactly as we examined those of paracetamol. We found that ibuprofen decreased the ants’ food consumption, speed of locomotion (and increased their sinuosity), orientation and trail following ability, audacity and escaping behavior, as well as their tactile perception (what resulted from the analgesic effect of the drug). Ibuprofen also affected the ants’ brood caring and social relationship, inducing some aggressiveness between nestmates. It did not impact the ants’ cognition and conditioning ability, nor their visual and olfactory memory. Ants did not adapt themselves to the impact of ibuprofen on their locomotion, became habituated to the analgesic effect of the drug, and developed no dependence on it. The effect of ibuprofen slowly decreased after weaning and vanished in about 10 hours. Ibuprofen presented thus several adverse effects which differed from those induced by paracetamol. Paracetamol impacted cognition, conditioning and memory while ibuprofen affected social relationship. For safely obtaining an efficient analgesic effect, these two analgesics could be used successively, each one for three days, at a rather low dose, with the use of acetylsalicylic acid during the following seventh day. For moderate pain, curcuma can be used as a substitute. We should also remember that pain perception is a vital physiological function allowing the individuals taking care of themselves.