The Utility of Peripherally Restricted Kappa-Opioid Receptor Agonists for Inhibiting Below-Level Pain After Spinal Cord Injury in Mice.

ABSTRACT: Pain after spinal cord injury (SCI) can be difficult to treat. Drugs that target the opioid receptor (OR) outside the central nervous system (CNS) have gained increasing interest in pain control owing to their low risk of central side effects. Asimadoline and ICI-204448 are believed to be peripherally restricted KOR agonists withlimited access to the CNS. This study examined whether they can attenuate pain hypersensitivity in mice subjected to a contusive T10 SCI. Subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of asimadoline (5, 20 mg/kg) and ICI-204448 (1, 10 mg/kg) inhibited heat hypersensitivity at both doses, but only attenuated mechanical hypersensitivity at the high dose. However, the high-dose asimadoline adversely affected animals' exploratory performance in SCI mice and caused aversion, suggesting

SUBMITTER: Ma D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10530135 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature