AI Article Synopsis
- The study examined how repeated stress affects pain responses in rats, focusing on the nociceptive response measured through the tail-flick test.
- Wistar rats were subjected to 40 days of restraint stress, resulting in increased pain sensitivity and a significant reduction in opioid receptor density in key brain areas: the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and spinal cord.
- Findings indicate that the decrease in opioid receptors may mediate the heightened pain responses seen in stressed rats, though other non-opioid factors could also play a role.
Article Abstract
Different effects of exposure to acute or to repeated stress have been observed upon the nociceptive response in rats. In the present study, we repeatedly submitted Wistar rats to restraint for 40 days, a treatment known to induce an increase in the nociceptive response in the tail-flick test. Afterwards, the effect of repeated restraint stress on the density of opioid receptors in rat spinal cord, frontal cortex, and hippocampus was investigated. Results showed that repeatedly stressed rats displayed a significant decrease in opioid receptors density in all structures studied; cortex (141.3 +/- 5.7 for control and 103.3 +/- 15.9 for stressed rats), hippocampus (92.4 +/- 7.2 for control and 64.8 +/- 7.7 for stressed rats), and spinal cord (122.2 +/- 12.8 for control and 79.7 +/- 9.7 for stressed rats). These findings suggest opioid mediation of the altered responses observed in these repeatedly-stressed animals, although the participation of non-opioid mechanisms in this phenomenon cannot be ruled out.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11064-004-9679-2 | DOI Listing |
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