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Vol. 288, Issue 3, 1026-1030, March 1999
Departments of Anesthesiology, Physiology, and Pharmacology, Wake
Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Repetitive ectopic discharges from injured afferent nerves play an
important role in initiation and maintenance of neuropathic pain.
Gabapentin is effective for treatment of neuropathic pain but the sites
and mechanisms of its antinociceptive actions remain uncertain. In the
present study, we tested a hypothesis that therapeutic doses of
gabapentin suppress ectopic afferent discharge activity generated from
injured peripheral nerves. Mechanical allodynia, induced by partial
ligation of the sciatic nerve in rats, was determined by application of
von Frey filaments to the hindpaw. Single-unit afferent nerve activity
was recorded proximal to the ligated sciatic nerve site. Intavenous
gabapentin, in a range of 30 to 90 mg/kg, significantly attenuated
allodynia in nerve-injured rats. Furthermore, gabapentin, in the same
therapeutic dose range, dose-dependently inhibited the ectopic
discharge activity of 15 injured sciatic afferent nerve fibers through
an action on impulse generation. However, the conduction velocity and
responses of 12 normal afferent fibers to mechanical stimulation were
not affected by gabapentin. Therefore, this study provides
electrophysiological evidence that gabapentin is capable of suppressing
the ectopic discharge activity from injured peripheral nerves. This
action may contribute, at least in part, to the antiallodynic effect of
gabapentin on neuropathic pain.
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