Administration of copper reduced the hyper-excitability of neurons in CA1 hippocampal slices from epileptic rats.

Copper as a trace metal is involved in several neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Menkes, Wilson's, Alzheimer's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Electrophysiological evidence indicates that acute perfusion of copper can inhibit long-term synaptic potentiation in hippocampal slices. The objective of this work is to determine whether Cu perfusion can perturb synaptic transmission in hippocampal slices derived from pilocarpine treated epileptic rats.

Stage-dependent C-reflex, pain-like behavior and opioid analgesia during the induction of chronic arthritis in rats.

Chronic arthritis (CA) is a common clinical entity associated with persistent pain and limited response to opioid analgesic therapy. However, it is unknown whether these features of CA change depending on its stage of evolution. To address this, in a well-established animal model of CA we studied the time course of electromyographic responses to electrical stimulation of C fibers (C-reflex), pain-like behavior as a response to mechanical nociceptive stimulation, and the inhibition of both responses by a prototypic opioid analgesic, morphine.

Involvement of spinal cord BDNF in the generation and maintenance of chronic neuropathic pain in rats.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity of the central and peripheral nervous system. In chronic pain, plastic changes in dorsal horn neurons contribute to a phenomenon of hypersensitivity to pain sensation that is maintained over time, known as central sensitization. This process is accompanied by BDNF overexpression, but the role of BDNF in the generation and maintenance of the hyperalgesic phenomenon is still unclear.

Expression of nitric oxide synthase isoforms in the dorsal horn of monoarthritic rats: effects of competitive and uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists.

Chronic pain is associated with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation and downstream production of nitric oxide, which has a pivotal role in multisynaptic local circuit nociceptive processing in the spinal cord. The formation of nitric oxide is catalyzed by three major nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms (neuronal, nNOS; inducible, iNOS; endothelial, eNOS), which are increased in the spinal cord of rodents subjected to some tonic and chronic forms of experimental pain. Despite the important role of NOS in spinal cord nociceptive transmission, there have been no studies exploring the effect of NMDA receptor blockade on NOS expression in the dorsal horn during chronic pain.

Antinociceptive effect and interaction of uncompetitive and competitive NMDA receptor antagonists upon capsaicin and paw pressure testing in normal and monoarthritic rats.

We assessed whether intrathecal administration of the uncompetitive and competitive NMDA receptor antagonists ketamine and (+/-)CPP, respectively, could produce differential modulation on chemical and mechanical nociception in normal and monoarthritic rats. In addition, the antinociceptive interaction of ketamine and (+/-)CPP on monoarthritic pain was also studied using isobolographic analysis. Monoarthritis was produced by intra-articular injection of complete Freund's adjuvant into the tibio-tarsal joint.