J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2006 Apr;30(2):142-147.

Clinical Features of Central Neuropathic Pain after Contusive Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

• Lee SY
• Im HL
• Kim JH
• Jung SH
• Choi IS
• Lee SG

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the characteristics of the central neuropathic pain (CNP) after contusive spinal cord injury in rats. METHOD: Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats (300+/-50 g, male) undergone the free-drop contusion injury from the drop-height of 2.5 cm at T10 cord (n=20) and ten rats undergone sham operation (n=10) were subjected to the neurobehavioral analyses by the Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scales, Touch test(TM) sensory evaluator (TTSE, North Coast Medical Inc., Canada) and Plantar test(R)(Ugo Basile, Italy) after contusion at the 1(st), 3(rd), 5(th), 7(th), 14(th), 21(st) and 28(th) day.
RESULTS
The scores of BBB scales were the lowest at the 1st day and then slowly increased to spontaneous recovery state, but they were significantly lower than those of control group (p<0.05). The thresholds of mechanical allodynia were significantly increased just after cord contusion, but progressed to decline, and significantly decreased after the 21(st) day (p<0.05). The latencies of thermal hyperalgesia were delayed just after cord contusion, but significantly shorter than those of the control group after the 7(th) day (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
These results would be helpful for the study of the CNP after contusive spinal cord injury in rats.

Keyword

Central neuropathic pain; Spnal cord injury; Mechanical allodynia; Thermal hyperalgesia

MeSH Terms

Animals
Contusions
Hyperalgesia
Neuralgia*
Ocimum basilicum
Rats*
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Spinal Cord Injuries*
Spinal Cord*
Weights and Measures