Efficacy of microcurrent therapy in the treatment of chronic nonspecific back pain: a pilot study.

Objectives: Microcurrent therapy (MCT) is a novel treatment for pain syndromes. The MCT patch is hypothesized to produce stimuli that promote tissue healing by facilitating physiologic currents. Solid evidence from randomized clinical trials is lacking.

Sciatic nerve regeneration in mice and rats: recovery of sensory innervation is followed by a slowly retreating neuropathic pain-like syndrome.

Peripheral nerve regeneration has been studied extensively in the sciatic nerve crush model, at the level of both function and gene expression. The crush injury allows full recovery of sensory and motor function in about 3 weeks as assessed by the foot reflex withdrawal test and De Medinacelli walking patterns. We used the recently developed CatWalk paradigm to study walking patterns in more detail in mice and rats.

Interaction between the spinal melanocortin and opioid systems in a rat model of neuropathic pain.

Background: The authors recently demonstrated that administration of the melanocortin-4 receptor antagonist SHU9119 decreased neuropathic pain symptoms in rats with a sciatic chronic constriction injury. The authors hypothesised that there is a balance between tonic pronociceptive effects of the spinal melanocortin system and tonic antinociceptive effects of the spinal opioid system. Therefore, they investigated a possible interaction between these two systems and tested whether opioid effectiveness could be increased through modulation of the spinal melanocortin system activity.

Discovery and in vivo evaluation of new melanocortin-4 receptor-selective peptides.

The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) is involved in several physiological processes, including body weight regulation and grooming behaviour in rats. It has also been suggested that the MC4R mediates the effects of melanocortin ligands on neuropathic pain. Selective compounds are needed to study the exact role of the MC4R in these different processes.

'CatWalk' automated quantitative gait analysis as a novel method to assess mechanical allodynia in the rat; a comparison with von Frey testing.

A characteristic symptom of neuropathic pain is mechanical allodynia. In animal models of neuropathic pain, mechanical allodynia is often assessed using von Frey filaments. Although the forces applied with these filaments are highly reproducible, there are various disadvantages of using this method.

Chronic blockade of melanocortin receptors alleviates allodynia in rats with neuropathic pain.

Unlabelled: We investigated the involvement of the spinal cord melanocortin (MC) system in neuropathic pain. Because we recently demonstrated that MC receptor ligands acutely alter nociception in an animal model of neuropathic pain, in this study we tested whether chronic administration was also effective. We hypothesized that chronic blockade of the spinal MC system might decrease sensory abnormalities associated with this condition.

Neuropathic pain: a possible role for the melanocortin system?

In humans, damage to the nervous system can lead to a pain state referred to as neuropathic pain. Here, we give a short overview of the clinical picture and classification of neuropathic pain and highlight some of the currently known pathophysiological mechanisms involved, with special emphasis on neuropeptide plasticity. In this context, we discuss a specific group of neuropeptides, the melanocortins.

Antagonism of the melanocortin system reduces cold and mechanical allodynia in mononeuropathic rats.

The presence of both pro-opiomelanocortin-derived peptides and melanocortin (MC) receptors in nociception-associated areas in the spinal cord suggests that, at the spinal level, the MC system might be involved in nociceptive transmission. In the present study, we demonstrate that a chronic constriction injury (CCI) to the rat sciatic nerve, a lesion that produces neuropathic pain, results in changes in the spinal cord MC system, as shown by an increased binding of (125)I-NDP-MSH to the dorsal horn. Furthermore, we investigated whether intrathecal administration (in the cisterna magna) of selective MC receptor ligands can affect the mechanical and cold allodynia associated with the CCI.

Central diabetes insipidus and Cushing's syndrome due to ectopic ACTH production by disseminated small cell lung cancer: a case report.

The present case report describes the rare clinical presentation of diabetes insipidus in a patient with an ectopic ACTH syndrome (morning plasma cortisol 1.10 mumol/l, morning plasma ACTH 322 ng/l) due to disseminated small cell lung cancer including a metastasis in the posterior pituitary. The patient was treated by combination chemotherapy and at the same time received octreotide to control hypercortisolism and desmopressin (DDAVP) to control polyuria.

The effects of a 5-HT1A receptor agonist and antagonist on the 5-hydroxytryptamine release in the central nucleus of the amygdala: a microdialysis study with flesinoxan and WAY 100635.

The modulation of extracellular 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) by 5-HT1A receptors was studied by intracerebral microdialysis in awake and freely moving rats. Local administration of 1 microM tetrodotoxin (TTX), 60 mM K+ and perfusion with Ca(2+)-free Ringer containing EGTA confirmed that the major part of dialysate 5-HT levels from the CeA is of neuronal origin. Administration of 300 nM of RU 24969, a 5-HT1B receptor agonist, through the probe into the CeA decreased dialysate 5-HT levels to 67.