D-cycloserine reduces neuropathic pain behavior through limbic NMDA-mediated circuitry.

ABSTRACT: Human brain imaging studies suggest that chronic neuropathic pain has a strong emotional component that is mediated by medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity; in rodents, the mPFC is involved in emotional and cognitive aspects of behavior, including the extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning. Together, these findings suggest that the cortex may modulate the memory trace of pain. As D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist of the NMDA receptor, can enhance learning and potentiate the extinction of acquired fear, in the present study we tested its efficacy in neuropathic pain behavior. In rats with spared nerve injury (SNI), repeated daily oral administration of DCS reduced mechanical sensitivity of the injured limb in a dose-dependent manner; this effect continued for weeks after the ces

SUBMITTER: Millecamps M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3224847 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature