BACKGROUND Electroacupuncture (EA) has been widely used to alleviate diverse pains. Accumulated clinical experiences and experimental observations indicated that significant differences exist in sensitivity to EA analgesia for individuals of patients and model animals. However, the molecular mechanism accounting for this difference remains obscure. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We classified...

The classical analgesic pathway of opioids by binding their receptors in the nervous system is well known. However, little is known regarding opioid analgesia through the anti-inflammatory pathway. The present study aimed to investigate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of β-endorphin on inflammatory pain. A rat model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was generated by intradermal inj...

We tested the hypothesis that thermal tail-flick latency, a common measure of pain sensitivity in rodents, would be altered in lines of mice that had been selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior. Specifically, we predicted that the selected (High-Runner) lines would show decreased pain sensitivity relative to their control (C; randombred) lines, and would respond differently ...

Pain is a universal complaint, which needs further investigations for new pain relieving agents. Carum copticum (L.) Sprague ex Turrill is a plant in Umbelliferae family, which is mentioned to have some therapeutic effects on headache and joint pains in Iranian traditional literature, but there are not enough scientific reports to prove its effects on pain. So, we conducted to design an experim...

BACKGROUND Although electroacupuncture (EA) relieves various types of pain, individual differences in the sensitivity to EA analgesia have been reported, causing experimental and clinical difficulties. Our functional genomic study using cDNA microarray identified that 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a well-known factor in the regulation of energy homeostasis, is the most highly expresse...

conclusions our findings support the role of nmdars in pregabalin antinociception, because the nmdar agonist, unlike the antagonist, decreased the antinociceptive effect of pregabalin, even if tail flick is not an adequate pain assessment method in this regard. background pregabalin as a new anticonvulsant has been used in different pain treatments. objectives the aim of this study was to inves...

The neural mechanisms involved in post-ictal analgesia remain to be elucidated. Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) is used experimentally to induce seizure in animal subjects. This non-competitive antagonist blocks GABA-mediated Cl(-) flux. The aim of this work is to study the neurochemical basis of the antinociception induced by convulsions elicited by peripheral administration of PTZ (64 mg/kg). The ana...

Background: Opioids like morphine produce side effects ranging from nausea and vomiting, pruritus, over sedation, dizziness and urinary retention to respiratory depression. Particularly, on chronic administration, it leads to development of tolerance. Combining opioids with certain other drugs (adjuvant analgesics) like ketamine, which is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, not ...

Electroacupuncture (EA) is a modified form of acupuncture that utilizes electrical stimulation. We previously showed that EA stimulated rats were divided into responders that were sensitive to EA and non-responders that were insensitive to EA based on the tail flick latency (TFL) test. The dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) gene was more abundantly expressed in the hypothalamus of responder rats t...