Beta2-adrenoceptors are essential for desipramine, venlafaxine or reboxetine action in neuropathic pain.

Abstract

Neuropathic pain is a disease caused by a lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system. Antidepressants or anticonvulsants are presently the best available treatments. The mechanism by which antidepressants relieve neuropathic pain remains poorly understood. Using pharmacological and transgenic approaches in mice, we evaluated adrenergic receptor (AR) implication in the action of the tricyclic antidepressant desipramine, the noradrenaline and serotonin reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine, and the noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor reboxetine. Neuropathy was induced by cuff insertion around the sciatic nerve. We showed that chronic antidepressant treatment suppressed cuff-induced allodynia in wild-type mice but not in beta(2)-AR deficient mice, and/or that this antiallodynic action was blocked by intraperitoneal or intrathecal injection of the beta(2)-AR antagonist ICI 118,551 but not by the alpha(2)-AR antagonist yohimbine. We also showed that the anticonvulsant gabapentin was still effective in beta(2)-AR deficient mice. Our results demonstrate that beta(2)-ARs are essential for the antiallodynic action of antidepressant drugs.

• Authors: Ipek Yalcin, Luc-Henri Tessier, Nathalie Petit-Demoulière, Stéphane Doridot, Lutz Hein, Marie-José Freund-Mercier, Michel Barrot
• Journal: Neurobiology of disease (Neurobiol Dis) Vol. 33 Issue 3 Pg. 386-94 (Mar 2009) ISSN: 1095-953X [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 19084064 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Antagonists
• Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists
• Adrenergic beta-Antagonists
• Amines
• Anticonvulsants
• Antidepressive Agents
• Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids
• Cyclohexanols
• Morpholines
• Propanolamines
• Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2
• Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-2
• Yohimbine
• ICI 118551
• gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
• Gabapentin
• Venlafaxine Hydrochloride
• Reboxetine
• Desipramine

Topics

• Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Antagonists
• Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists (administration & dosage)
• Adrenergic beta-Antagonists (administration & dosage)
• Amines (therapeutic use)
• Animals
• Anticonvulsants (therapeutic use)
• Antidepressive Agents (therapeutic use)
• Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids (therapeutic use)
• Cyclohexanols (therapeutic use)
• Desipramine (therapeutic use)
• Gabapentin
• Male
• Mice
• Mice, Transgenic
• Morpholines (therapeutic use)
• Pain (drug therapy, metabolism)
• Pain Threshold (drug effects, physiology)
• Propanolamines (administration & dosage)
• Reboxetine
• Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2 (physiology)
• Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-2 (genetics, physiology)
• Sciatic Nerve (physiopathology)
• Venlafaxine Hydrochloride
• Yohimbine (administration & dosage)
• gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (therapeutic use)