RT journal article
T1 Depressive-like states heighten the aversion to painful stimuli in a rat model of comorbid chronic pain and depression.
A1 Bravo García, Lidia
A1 Rey-Brea, Raquel
A1 Micó Segura, Juan Antonio
A1 Pérez-Nievas, Beatriz
A1 Leza, Juan Carlos
A1 Berrocoso Domínguez, Esther María
A2 Neurociencias
A2 Psicología
K1 pain
K1 depression
K1 comorbidity
K1 affective component of pain
K1 cingulate cortex
AB BACKGROUND: Chronic pain and depression are two complex states with sensory/somatic and emotional components, and they may mutually exacerbate one another in conditions of comorbidity, leading to a poorer prognosis.METHODS: The authors have evaluated the sensory and emotional components in a rat model combining chronic constriction injury (CCI, a model of chronic neuropathic pain) with unpredictable chronic mild stress (CMS, an experimental model of depression). In addition, the phosphorylation/activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 and neuronal density was also evaluated in the anterior cingulate cortex. Four groups were tested: sham-control, sham-CMS, CCI-control, and CCI-CMS.RESULTS: CMS selectively heightens aversion to painful experiences in animals subjected to CCI, as measured in the place escape/avoidance test at 20, 25, and 30 min (CCI-CMS (mean±SEM): 75.68±3.32, 66.75±4.70, 77.54±3.60 vs. CCI-control: 44.66±6.07, 43.17±6.92, 52.83±5.92, respectively), in conjunction with an increase in the accumulation of phosphorylation/activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (CCI-CMS: 4.17±0.52 vs. sham-control: 0.96±0.05) and a decrease in neuronal density in the anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, chronic pain did not exacerbate the characteristic profile of depression (anhedonia and behavioral despair) in rats subjected to CMS. Furthermore, depression enhances the perception of some specific modalities of sensorial pain such as cold allodynia but has no influence on mechanical threshold.CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the theory that depression leads to emotional dysfunction in the interpretation of pain in patients suffering chronic pain. In addition, combined animal models of pain-depression may provide a valuable tool to study the comorbidity of pain and depression.
SN 0003-3022
YR 2014
FD 2014-03-19T00:00:00Z
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/15968
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/15968
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-may-2026