Relative efficacy of 32P and 89Sr in palliation in skeletal metastases. (1/9560)

32p and 89Sr have been shown to produce significant pain relief in patients with skeletal metastases from advanced cancer. Clinically significant pancytopenia has not been reported in doses up to 12 mCi (444 MBq) of either radionuclide. To date, no reports comparing the relative efficacy and toxicity of the two radionuclides in comparable patient populations have been available. Although a cure has not been reported, both treatments have achieved substantial pain relief. However, several studies have used semiquantitative measures such as "slight," "fair," "partial" and "dramatic" responses, which lend themselves to subjective bias. This report examines the responses to treatment with 32P or 89Sr by attempting a quantification of pain relief and quality of life using the patients as their own controls and compares toxicity in terms of hematological parameters. METHODS: Thirty-one patients with skeletal metastases were treated for pain relief with either 32P (16 patients) or 89Sr (15 patients). Inclusion criteria were pain from bone scan-positive sites above a subjective score of 5 of 10 despite analgesic therapy with narcotic or non-narcotic medication, limitation of movement related to the performance of routine daily activity and a predicted life expectancy of at least 4 mo. The patients had not had chemotherapy or radiotherapy during the previous 6 wk and had normal serum creatinine, white cell and platelet counts. 32P was given orally as a 12 mCi dose, and 89Sr was given intravenously as a 4 mCi (148 MBq) dose. The patients were monitored for 4 mo. RESULTS: Complete absence of pain was seen in 7 of 16 patients who were given 32P and in 7 of 15 patients who were given 89Sr. Pain scores fell by at least 50% of the pretreatment score in 14 of 16 patients who were given 32P and 14 of 15 patients who were given 89Sr. Mean duration of pain relief was 9.6 wk with 32P and 10 wk with 89Sr. Analgesic scores fell along with the drop in pain scores. A fall in total white cell, absolute granulocyte and platelet counts occurred in all patients. Subnormal values of white cells and platelets were seen in 5 and 7 patients, respectively, with 32P, and in 0 and 4 patients, respectively, after 89Sr therapy. The decrease in platelet count (but not absolute granulocyte count) was statistically significant when 32P patients were compared with 89Sr patients. However, in no instance did the fall in blood counts require treatment. Absolute granulocyte counts did not fall below 1000 in any patient. There was no significant difference between the two treatments in terms of either efficacy or toxicity. CONCLUSION: No justification has been found in this study for the recommendation of 89Sr over the considerably less expensive oral 32P for the palliation of skeletal pain from metastases of advanced cancer.  (+info)

Cardiovascular and neuronal responses to head stimulation reflect central sensitization and cutaneous allodynia in a rat model of migraine. (2/9560)

Reduction of the threshold of cardiovascular and neuronal responses to facial and intracranial stimulation reflects central sensitization and cutaneous allodynia in a rat model of migraine. Current theories propose that migraine pain is caused by chemical activation of meningeal perivascular fibers. We previously found that chemical irritation of the dura causes trigeminovascular fibers innervating the dura and central trigeminal neurons receiving convergent input from the dura and skin to respond to low-intensity mechanical and thermal stimuli that previously induced minimal or no responses. One conclusion of these studies was that when low- and high-intensity stimuli induce responses of similar magnitude in nociceptive neurons, low-intensity stimuli must be as painful as the high-intensity stimuli. The present study investigates in anesthetized rats the significance of the changes in the responses of central trigeminal neurons (i.e., in nucleus caudalis) by correlating them with the occurrence and type of the simultaneously recorded cardiovascular responses. Before chemical stimulation of the dura, simultaneous increases in neuronal firing rates and blood pressure were induced by dural indentation with forces >/= 2.35 g and by noxious cutaneous stimuli such as pinching the skin and warming > 46 degrees C. After chemical stimulation, similar neuronal responses and blood pressure increases were evoked by much smaller forces for dural indentation and by innocuous cutaneous stimuli such as brushing the skin and warming it to >/= 43 degrees C. The onsets of neuronal responses preceded the onsets of depressor responses by 1.7 s and pressor responses by 4.0 s. The duration of neuronal responses was 15 s, whereas the duration of depressor responses was shorter (5.8 s) and pressor responses longer (22.7 s) than the neuronal responses. We conclude that the facilitated cardiovascular and central trigeminal neuronal responses to innocuous stimulation of the skin indicate that when dural stimulation induces central sensitization, innocuous stimuli are as nociceptive as noxious stimuli had been before dural stimulation and that a similar process might occur during the development of cutaneous allodynia during migraine.  (+info)

Cannabinoid suppression of noxious heat-evoked activity in wide dynamic range neurons in the lumbar dorsal horn of the rat. (3/9560)

The effects of cannabinoid agonists on noxious heat-evoked firing of 62 spinal wide dynamic range (WDR) neurons were examined in urethan-anesthetized rats (1 cell/animal). Noxious thermal stimulation was applied with a Peltier device to the receptive fields in the ipsilateral hindpaw of isolated WDR neurons. To assess the site of action, cannabinoids were administered systemically in intact and spinally transected rats and intraventricularly. Both the aminoalkylindole cannabinoid WIN55,212-2 (125 microg/kg iv) and the bicyclic cannabinoid CP55,940 (125 microg/kg iv) suppressed noxious heat-evoked activity. Responses evoked by mild pressure in nonnociceptive neurons were not altered by CP55,940 (125 microg/kg iv), consistent with previous observations with another cannabinoid agonist, WIN55,212-2. The cannabinoid induced-suppression of noxious heat-evoked activity was blocked by pretreatment with SR141716A (1 mg/kg iv), a competitive antagonist for central cannabinoid CB1 receptors. By contrast, intravenous administration of either vehicle or the receptor-inactive enantiomer WIN55,212-3 (125 microg/kg) failed to alter noxious heat-evoked activity. The suppression of noxious heat-evoked activity induced by WIN55,212-2 in the lumbar dorsal horn of intact animals was markedly attenuated in spinal rats. Moreover, intraventricular administration of WIN55,212-2 suppressed noxious heat-evoked activity in spinal WDR neurons. By contrast, both vehicle and enantiomer were inactive. These findings suggest that cannabinoids selectively modulate the activity of nociceptive neurons in the spinal dorsal horn by actions at CB1 receptors. This modulation represents a suppression of pain neurotransmission because the inhibitory effects are selective for pain-sensitive neurons and are observed with different modalities of noxious stimulation. The data also provide converging lines of evidence for a role for descending antinociceptive mechanisms in cannabinoid modulation of spinal nociceptive processing.  (+info)

Physiological properties of raphe magnus neurons during sleep and waking. (4/9560)

Neurons in the medullary raphe magnus (RM) that are important in the descending modulation of nociceptive transmission are classified by their response to noxious tail heat as ON, OFF, or NEUTRAL cells. Experiments in anesthetized animals demonstrate that RM ON cells facilitate and OFF cells inhibit nociceptive transmission. Yet little is known of the physiology of these cells in the unanesthetized animal. The first aim of the present experiments was to determine whether cells with ON- and OFF-like responses to noxious heat exist in the unanesthetized rat. Second, to determine if RM cells have state-dependent discharge, the activity of RM neurons was recorded during waking and sleeping states. Noxious heat applied during waking and slow wave sleep excited one group of cells (ON-U) in unanesthetized rats. Other cells were inhibited by noxious heat (OFF-U) applied during waking and slow wave sleep states in unanesthetized rats. NEUTRAL-U cells did not respond to noxious thermal stimulation applied during either slow wave sleep or waking. ON-U and OFF-U cells were more likely to respond to noxious heat during slow wave sleep than during waking and were least likely to respond when the animal was eating or drinking. Although RM cells rarely respond to innocuous stimulation applied during anesthesia, ON-U and OFF-U cells were excited and inhibited, respectively, by innocuous somatosensory stimulation in the unanesthetized rat. The spontaneous activity of >90% of the RM neurons recorded in the unanesthetized rat was influenced by behavioral state. OFF-U cells discharged sporadically during waking but were continuously active during slow wave sleep. By contrast, ON-U and NEUTRAL-U cells discharged in bursts during waking and either ceased to discharge entirely or discharged at a low rate during slow wave sleep. We suggest that OFF cell discharge functions to suppress pain-evoked reactions during sleep, whereas ON cell discharge facilitates pain-evoked responses during waking.  (+info)

Ketamine-induced peripheral analgesia in rats. (5/9560)

AIM: To examine whether ketamine may directly act at peripheral nociceptors to produce analgesia. METHODS: Wistar rats were anesthetized with urethane. As a nociceptive flexion reflex (FR), C responses from the posterior biceps semitendinosus (PBST) muscle was evoked by electrical stimulation (2 ms, 80 V, 2-3 pulses, 0.5 Hz) via a pair of stainless steel needles inserted subcutaneously applied to the two toes of ipsilateral hindpw. RESULTS: Subcutaneous injection of ketamine (36 mmol.L-1, 5 microL) into the ipsilateral hindpaw produced an inhibition of C responses. At 9 min after application of ketamine, injection of naloxone (1%, 5 microL) into the same area annulled ketamine-induced inhibition. CONCLUSION: Ketamine as a dissociate anesthetic acts on peripheral nociceptors to produce analgesia, which is related to activity of peripheral opioid receptors.  (+info)

Response surface analysis of synergism between morphine and clonidine. (6/9560)

Graded doses of morphine sulfate and clonidine hydrochloride were administered intrathecally to mice that were then tested for antinociception in the 55 degrees C tail immersion test. The dose-effect relations of each compound were used in calculations that permitted the construction of a three-dimensional plot of the expected additive effect (vertical scale) against the planar domain of dose pairs representing combinations administered simultaneously. This additive response surface became the reference surface for viewing the actual effects produced by three different fixed-ratio combinations of the drugs that were used in our tests. Each combination produced effects significantly greater than indicated by the additive surface, thereby illustrating marked synergism and a method for quantifying the synergism. This quantification, measured by the value of the interaction index (alpha), was found to be dependent on the fixed-ratio combination; accordingly, the actual response surface could not be described by a single value of the index alpha. Furthermore, we found that application of the common method of isoboles gave estimates of the index that agreed well with those obtained from the more extensive surface analysis. These results confirm earlier studies, which found synergism for these drugs while also providing surface views of additivity and synergism that form the basis of isobolographic analysis.  (+info)

Nitrocinnamoyl and chlorocinnamoyl derivatives of dihydrocodeinone: in vivo and in vitro characterization of mu-selective agonist and antagonist activity. (7/9560)

Two 14beta-p-nitrocinnamoyl derivatives of dihydrocodeinone, 14beta-(p-nitrocinnamoylamino)-7,8-dihydrocodeinone (CACO) and N-cyclopropylmethylnor-14beta-(p-nitrocinnamoylamino)- 7, 8-dihydrocodeinone (N-CPM-CACO), and the corresponding chlorocinnamoylamino analogs, 14beta-(p-chlorocinnamoylamino)-7, 8-dihydrocodeinone (CAM) and N-cyclopropylmethylnor-14beta-(p-chlorocinnamoylamino) -7, 8-dihydrocodeinone (MC-CAM), were tested in opioid receptor binding assays and the mouse tail-flick test to characterize the opioid affinity, selectivity, and antinociceptive properties of these compounds. In competition binding assays, all four compounds bound to the mu opioid receptor with high affinity. When bovine striatal membranes were incubated with any of the four dihydrocodeinones, binding to the mu receptor was inhibited in a concentration-dependent, wash-resistant manner. Saturation binding experiments demonstrated that the wash-resistant inhibition of mu binding was due to a decrease in the Bmax value for the binding of the mu-selective peptide [3H][D-Ala2, MePhe4,Gly(ol)5] enkephalin and not a change in the Kd value, suggesting an irreversible interaction of the compounds with the mu receptor. In the mouse 55 degrees C warm water tail-flick test, both CACO and N-CPM-CACO acted as short-term mu-selective agonists when administered by i. c.v. injection, whereas CAM and MC-CAM produced no measurable antinociception at doses up to 30 nmol. Pretreatment of mice for 24 h with any of the four dihydrocodeinone derivatives produced a dose-dependent antagonism of antinociception mediated by the mu but not the delta or kappa receptors. Long-term antagonism of morphine-induced antinociception lasted for at least 48 h after i.c. v. administration. Finally, shifts in the morphine dose-response lines after 24-h pretreatment with the four dihydrocodeinone compounds suggest that the nitrocinnamoylamino derivatives may produce a greater magnitude long-term antagonism of morphine-induced antinociception than the chlorocinnamoylamino analogs.  (+info)

Activation of peripheral kappa opioid receptors inhibits capsaicin-induced thermal nociception in rhesus monkeys. (8/9560)

8-Methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide (capsaicin) was locally applied in the tail of rhesus monkeys to evoke a nociceptive response, thermal allodynia, which was manifested as reduced tail-withdrawal latencies in normally innocuous 46 degrees C water. Coadministration of three kappa opioid ligands, U50,488 (3.2-100 microgram), bremazocine (0.1-3.2 microgram), and dynorphin A(1-13) (3.2-100 microgram), with capsaicin in the tail dose-dependently inhibited capsaicin-induced allodynia. This local antinociception was antagonized by a small dose of an opioid antagonist, quadazocine; (0.32 mg), applied in the tail; however, this dose of quadazocine injected s.c. in the back did not antagonize local U50,488. Comparing the relative potency of either agonist or antagonist after local and systemic administration confirmed that the site of action of locally applied kappa opioid agonists is in the tail. In addition, local nor-binaltorphimine (0.32 mg) and oxilorphan (0.1-10 microgram) antagonist studies raised the possibility of kappa opioid receptor subtypes in the periphery, which indicated that U50,488 produced local antinociception by acting on kappa1 receptors, but bremazocine acted probably on non-kappa1 receptors. These results provide functional evidence that activation of peripheral kappa opioid receptors can diminish capsaicin-induced allodynia in primates. This experimental pain model is a useful tool for evaluating peripherally antinociceptive actions of kappa agonists without central side effects and suggests new approaches for opioid pain management.  (+info)