Analgesic effects of antidepressants alone and after their local co-administration with morphine in a rat model of neuropathic pain.

Background: The therapy of neuropathic pain may include the use of co-analgesics, such as antidepressants, however, their desired analgesic effect is associated with significant side effects. An alternative approach to this is their local administration which has been proposed, but there is little data regarding their local co-administration with morphine and the nature of the interaction between morphine and either doxepin or venlafaxine, two antidepressant drugs that have been recently used in neuropathic pain therapies.

Methods: This study was performed on rats after chronic constriction injury (CCI) to the sciatic nerve.

Effects of new antiepileptic drugs and progabide on the mitogen-induced proliferative activity of mouse splenocytes.

Classical antiepileptic drugs are known to affect immune system activity, although the effects of new generation anticonvulsants on T- and B-cell-mediated immunity remain unknown. Therefore, in the present study, we compared a selection of new antiepileptic drugs with classical ones in terms of their effects on the proliferative activity of lymphocytes stimulated by concanavalin A(Con A) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Felbamate (3 x 10(-6) - 10(-4) M) was the most potent in inhibiting [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation in C57BL/6 mouse spleen cells stimulated by Con A and LPS.

[Origin of abdominal herniae--anatomical aspects].

Based on anatomical background authors review the current knowledge on mechanisms and anatomical predisposes causing abdominal herniations. They are giving a brief summary of limitations of potential spaces involved into dislocation of abdominal visceral through natural spaces. Authors try to join anatomical knowledge with clinical information what might be useful in understanding of the patomechanism of these surgical disorders.

Effects of some new antiepileptic drugs and progabide on glucocorticoid receptor-mediated gene transcription in LMCAT cells.

Antiepileptic drugs affect endocrine and immune system activity, however, it is not clear whether these effects are indirect, via interference with neurotransmitters, membrane receptors and ion channels or maybe independent of neuronal mechanisms. In order to shed more light on this problem, in the present study, we evaluated effects of some new-generation antiepileptic drugs and progabide as a GABA-mimetic on the corticosterone-induced chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in mouse fibroblast cells stably transfected with mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-CAT plasmid. Treatment of cells with felbamate for five days inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner (3-100 microM) the corticosterone-induced reporter gene transcription.

Effect of acute and repeated treatment with mirtazapine on the immunity of noradrenaline transporter knockout C57BL/6J mice.

Pathological immunoactivation is thought to play an important role in the etiology of depression; however, the effect of novel antidepressant drugs on immunity has been poorly recognized. Mirtazapine, an antidepressant drug, enhances noradrenergic and serotonergic neurotransmissions, which are crucially involved in the regulation of immune system activity. In the present study we examined the effect of acute and seven-day repeated administration of mirtazapine (20 mg/kg, i.

Effects of some new antidepressant drugs on the glucocorticoid receptor-mediated gene transcription in fibroblast cells.

Antidepressant drugs are thought to counteract effects of hypercortisolemia, frequently associated with depression, by lowering cortisol level and by modifying the function of glucocorticoid receptors (GR). Indeed, classical antidepressants inhibit corticosteroid-induced gene transcription in cell cultures. The aim of the present study was to investigate effects of new generation antidepressant drugs on GR function in mouse fibroblast cells (L929), stably transfected with mouse mammary tumor virus-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (MMTV-CAT) plasmid (LMCAT cells).