INVOLVEMENT OF NITRIC OXIDE IN SPINALLY MEDIATED CAPSAICIN- AND GLUTAMATE-INDUCED BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSES IN THE MOUSE

• Published in: Neurochemistry international 1996-09, Vol.29 (3), p.271-278
• Main Authors: SAKURADA, TSUKASA, SUGIYAMA, AKINORI, SAKURADA, CHIKAI, TANNO, KOICHI, SAKURADA, SHINOBU, KISARA, KENSUKE, HARA, AKIYOSHI, ABIKO, YASUSHI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid - pharmacology; Animals; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Capsaicin - administration & dosage; Capsaicin - pharmacology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists - pharmacology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glutamic Acid - pharmacology; Injections, Spinal; Kainic Acid - pharmacology; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; N-Methylaspartate - pharmacology; Neurotransmission and behavior; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester - pharmacology; Nitric Oxide - antagonists & inhibitors; Nitric Oxide - physiology; Nitric Oxide Synthase - antagonists & inhibitors; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Receptors, Tachykinin - agonists; Spinal Cord - drug effects; Spinal Cord - physiology
• ISSN: 0197-0186; 1872-9754
• DOI: 10.1016/0197-0186(96)00004-6

The intrathecal (i.t.) injection of capsaicin (0.1 nmol/mouse) through a lumbar puncture elicited scratching, biting and licking responses. Pretreatment with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N G-nitro- l-arginine methyl ester ( l-NAME) (320 nmol), by i.t. injection, resulted in a significant inhibition of the behavioural response produced by i.t. capsaicin (0.1 nmol/mouse). Similar behavioural responses were induced by i.t. injections of NMDA (0.4 nmol), kainate (0.05 nmol) or AMPA (0.05 nmol), which were all inhibited by co-administration of l-NAME (20–80 nmol). l-Arginine (600 mg/kg, i.p.) but not d-arginine (600 mg/kg, i.p.) reversed the inhibitory effect of l-NAME on capsaicin-, NMDA-, kainate- and AMPA-induced behavioural response. Scratching, biting and licking responses induced by tachykinin receptor agonists, substance P, [Sar 9,Met(O 2) 11]substance P, neurokinin A and neurokinin B were not affected by co-administration of l-NAME (40 and 80 nmol). These results suggest that spinal nitric oxide may play a significant role in mechanisms of the behavioural response to capsaicin, probably through the release of glutamate, but not tachykinins. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.