[Clinical and genetic characteristics of children with primary dilated cardiomyopathy].

Objectives: To study the genetic characteristics, clinical characteristics, and prognosis of children with primary dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 44 children who were diagnosed with DCM in Hebei Children's Hospital from July 2018 to February 2023. According to the genetic testing results, they were divided into two groups: gene mutation-positive group (=17) and gene mutation-negative group (=27).

Gabapentin and NMDA receptor antagonists interacts synergistically to alleviate allodynia in two rat models of neuropathic pain.

Background and aims The clinical management of neuropathic pain remains a challenge. We examined the interaction between gabapentin and NMDA receptor antagonists dextromethrophan and MK-801 in alleviating neuropathic pain-like behaviors in rats after spinal cord or sciatic nerve injury. Methods Female and male rats were produced with Ischemic spinal cord injury and sciatic nerve injury.

N-terminal truncations of substance P 1-7 amide affect its action on spinal cord injury-induced mechanical allodynia in rats.

Central neuropathic pain can arise from injury of the spinal cord and can become chronic. Treatment is difficult and, because complete pain relief is currently very hard to achieve, there is a need for new, more effective treatment options. In this study we used an animal model of spinal cord injury to evaluate the potency of a bioactive fragment of substance P (SP), i.

Quantitative test of responses to thermal stimulation in spinally injured rats using a Peltier thermode: a new approach to study cold allodynia.

In this work, we described a method of testing of responses of spinally injured rats to thermal stimulation (heating and cooling) to the flank area using a Peltier thermode. With a baseline holding temperature at 32°C and the temperature change rate of 0.5°C/s, we measured vocalization thresholds of rats to thermal stimulation in the flank area.

Meteorin reverses hypersensitivity in rat models of neuropathic pain.

Neuropathic pain is caused by a lesion or disease to the somatosensory nervous system and current treatment merely reduces symptoms. Here, we investigate the potential therapeutic effect of the neurotrophic factor Meteorin on multiple signs of neuropathic pain in two distinct rat models. In a first study, two weeks of intermittent systemic administration of recombinant Meteorin led to a dose-dependent reversal of established mechanical and cold hypersensitivity in rats after photochemically-induced sciatic nerve injury.

Curcumin ameliorates hydrogen peroxide-induced epithelial barrier disruption by upregulating heme oxygenase-1 expression in human intestinal epithelial cells.

Background: Disruption of epithelial tight junctions (TJ) followed by loss of barrier function is of crucial importance in the pathogenesis of a variety of gastrointestinal disorders. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), which can be induced by curcumin (Cur), provides protection against various forms of oxidative stress.

Aims: The protective effect of Cur on oxidative stress-induced intestinal barrier disruption in human intestinal epithelial cells was elucidated in this study.

Heparanase overexpression reduces carrageenan-induced mechanical and cold hypersensitivity in mice.

Heparanase controls the structure and functions of extracellular matrix (ECM) by degrading heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Heparanase is involved in inflammatory process through modulating the functions of inflammatory cytokines. The present study aimed to find out whether overexpression of heparanase in mice affects carrageenan-induced localized inflammation and inflammatory hyperalgesia.

Sex differences in the development of localized and spread mechanical hypersensitivity in rats after injury to the infraorbital or sciatic nerves to create a model for neuropathic pain.

Background: Neuropathic pain after injury to the nervous system is a difficult clinical problem. Sex differences in the development of neuropathic pain have not been well established experimentally or clinically.

Objective: Rats were used to examine sex differences in localized and spread mechanical hypersensitivity after partial injury to their infraorbital or sciatic nerves in a model of neuropathic pain.

Genetic analysis of neuropathic pain-like behavior following peripheral nerve injury suggests a role of the major histocompatibility complex in development of allodynia.

Neuropathic pain is a common consequence of damage to the nervous system. We here report a genetic analysis of development of neuropathic pain-like behaviors after unilateral photochemically-induced ischemic sciatic nerve injury in a panel of inbred rat strains known to display different susceptibility to autoimmune neuroinflammation. Pain behavior was initially characterized in Dark-Agouti (DA; RT1(av1)), Piebald Virol Glaxo (PVG; RT1(c)), and in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-congenic strain PVG-RT1(av1).

Lacosamide, a new anti-epileptic, alleviates neuropathic pain-like behaviors in rat models of spinal cord or trigeminal nerve injury.

The effect of systemic administration of lacosamide, a newly developed anti-epileptic, on neuropathic pain-like behaviors was examined in rats after ischemic injury to the infraorbital nerve or spinal cord using a photochemical method. In rats with infraorbital nerve injury, lacosamide reduced mechanical hypersensitivity and the effect was markedly stronger in female than in male rats. In spinal cord injured female rats 10-20 mg/kg lacosamide dose-dependently alleviated the mechanical and cold allodynia-like behaviors without causing motor impairments or marked sedation.

Effect of acute and chronic administration of caffeine on pain-like behaviors in rats with partial sciatic nerve injury.

Caffeine, used in many pain medications as an adjuvant analgesic, is an adenosine A1 and A2A receptor antagonist. Here we examined the effects of acute or chronic caffeine administration in rats after partial sciatic nerve injury. The hindpaw response to mechanical or cold stimulation was assessed following photochemically induced sciatic nerve injury which leads to hypersensitivity to these stimuli.

Behavioral changes and trigeminal ganglion sodium channel regulation in an orofacial neuropathic pain model.

We used a photochemical method to generate a partial ischemic injury to the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve in rats. Following injury, rats developed a bilateral persistent hypersensitivity to mechanical stimulation in the territory innervated by the infraorbital nerve. In addition, spread of mechanical hypersensitivity beyond the facial region was noted.

Comparative actions of the opioid analgesics morphine, methadone and codeine in rat models of peripheral and central neuropathic pain.

Controversy persists in relation to the analgesic efficacy of opioids in neuropathic pain. In the present study the effects of acute, subcutaneous administration of the mu-opioid receptor agonists morphine, methadone and codeine were examined in rat models of peripheral and central neuropathic pain. In the spared nerve injury (SNI) and chronic constriction injury (CCI) models of peripheral neuropathic pain, both morphine (6mg/kg) and methadone (3mg/kg) attenuated mechanical allodynia, mechanical hyperalgesia and cold allodynia for up to 1.

Increased nociceptive response in mice lacking the adenosine A1 receptor.

The role of the adenosine A1 receptor in nociception was assessed using mice lacking the A1 receptor (A1R-/-) and in rats. Under normal conditions, the A1R-/- mice exhibited moderate heat hyperalgesia in comparison to the wild-type mice (A1R+/+). The mechanical and cold sensitivity were unchanged.

Galanin over-expression decreases the development of neuropathic pain-like behaviors in mice after partial sciatic nerve injury.

The neuropeptide galanin may have a role in modulation of nociception, particularly after peripheral nerve injury. Here we assessed the development of neuropathic pain-like behaviors in mice overexpressing galanin under the dopamine beta-hydroxylase promoter. Unoperated galanin over-expressing mice exhibited a moderately reduced sensitivity to noxious heat.

Response characteristics of spinal cord dorsal horn neurons in chronic allodynic rats after spinal cord injury.

The physiological mechanisms of chronic pain in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) are poorly understood. In the present study, we explored response characteristics of dorsal horn neurons of spinally injured rats exhibiting chronic pain (pain-like response to innocuous mechanical and cold stimulation). Several abnormalities were found in the distribution and response characteristics of dorsal horn neurons in chronic allodynic rats.

High-efficacy 5-HT1A receptor activation causes a curative-like action on allodynia in rats with spinal cord injury.

The selective, high-efficacy 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist, (3-chloro-4-fluoro-phenyl)-[4-fluoro-4-[[(5-methyl-pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-amino]-methyl]piperidin-1-yl]-methanone (F 13640) has been reported to produce long-term analgesia in rodent models of chronic nociceptive and neuropathic pain; it also preempts allodynia following spinal cord injury. Here, rats underwent spinal cord injury, fully developed allodynia, and were infused with saline or 0.63 mg/day of F 13640 for 56 days.

Chronic lumbar catheterization of the spinal subarachnoid space in mice.

A simple method for chronic intrathecal (i.t.) catheterization of the lumbar subarachnoid space in mice is described.

A nitric oxide (NO)-releasing derivative of gabapentin, NCX 8001, alleviates neuropathic pain-like behavior after spinal cord and peripheral nerve injury.

1. Nitric oxide (NO) participates, at least in part, to the establishment and maintenance of pain after nerve injury. Therefore, drugs that target the NO/cGMP signaling pathway are of interest for the treatment of human neuropathic pain.

Systemic galnon, a low-molecular weight galanin receptor agonist, reduces heat hyperalgesia in rats with nerve injury.

We have examined the effect of systemically administered galnon, a novel low-molecular weight agonist of galanin receptors, on neuropathic pain-like behaviors in rats after photochemically induced partial nerve injury. Galnon is a galanin receptor ligand with moderate affinity to spinal cord membranes (K(D) of 6+/-0.6 microM).

The very-high-efficacy 5-HT1A receptor agonist, F 13640, preempts the development of allodynia-like behaviors in rats with spinal cord injury.

Central neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury (SCI) presents a challenging clinical problem with limited treatment options. [(3-chloro-4-fluoro-phenyl)-[4-fluoro-4-([(5-methyl-pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-amino]-methyl)piperidin-1-yl]]-methadone (F 13640) is a recently discovered very-high-efficacy, selective 5-HT1A receptor agonist that produces a remarkably powerful, central analgesia through unprecedented neuroadaptive mechanisms. In a rat model of spinal cord injury pain, we previously found that chronic infusion of F 13640 alleviated pain-like behaviors.

Animal models of spinal cord injury pain and their implications for pharmacological treatments.

Patients with spinal cord injury often develop chronic pain syndrome, which is difficult to treat. Several animal models of spinal cord injury have been developed in recent years which have significantly advanced our understandings of pathophysiology of this condition. This paper reviews some recent data in the pharmacological treatment of spinal cord injury pain using animal models, and discusses possible clinical applications.

A comparison of the antinociceptive effects of voltage-activated Na+ channel blockers in two rat models of neuropathic pain.

The pain-relieving effects of various voltage-activated Na(+) channel blockers have been evaluated in two rat models of neuropathic pain; the photochemically induced nerve injury model (Gazelius) and spared nerve injury model. Lidocaine (up to 40 mg/kg, i.p.

Buprenorphine alleviates neuropathic pain-like behaviors in rats after spinal cord and peripheral nerve injury.

We have studied and compared the antinociceptive and anti-hyperalgesic effect of the partial opioid receptor agonist buprenorphine in normal and neuropathic rats. In normal rats, systemic buprenorphine produced dose-dependent antinociception on the hot plate test. In rats with peripheral nerve or spinal cord injury, buprenorphine markedly alleviated neuropathic pain-related behaviors, including mechanical and cold allodynia/hyperalgesia at doses comparable to that producing antinociception.

Response characteristics of cutaneous mechanoreceptors in neuropathic rats.

The activity of single myelinated afferents was recorded from dorsal roots L4-5 in normal Sprague-Dawley rats and animals that developed mechanical hypersensitivity following ischemic injury to the sciatic nerve. The mechanical response properties and conduction velocity of afferents conducting through the injury site (about 50% of units) were similar to controls. However, the majority of afferents not conducting through the injury site exhibited ongoing activity.