Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicología del Principado de Asturias).
We currently publish four issues per year, which accounts for some 100 articles annually. We admit work from both the basic and applied research fields, and from all areas of Psychology, all manuscripts being anonymously reviewed prior to publication.
Psicothema, 2012. Vol. Vol. 24 (nº 2). 296-301
Carol Vasquez1,2, Melany Sánchez1,2, Jairo Herrera2 and Gabriel Quintero2
1 Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (Panamá) and
2 INDICASAT-AIP (Panamá)
Studies have shown that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors play a critical role in pain processing at different levels of the central nervous system. In this study, we used female adult Wistar rats to examine the effects of antagonizing the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor in phasic and tonic pain processes. All the rats underwent stereotaxic surgery for cortical cannula implantation and after at least one week of recovery, rats performed behavioral tests. For evaluating the effects of drugs on motor coordination rats were tested in the rotarod apparatus. Moreover, rats were evaluated in the paw withdrawal latency (PWL) to a noxious thermal stimulus. Furthermore, rats were tested in the formalin-pain test. Rats that received the NR2B antagonist Ro 25-6981 before and after formalin injection showed significantly reduced pain responses in the formalin test, as compared with female control rats (p<0.05). In contrast, no differences among groups were found in the phasic pain test (Hargreaves) and the rotarod test. Taken together, these results suggest that cortical antagonism of the NR2B subunit of NMDA receptors is able to reduce inflammatory pain levels not only before, but after the formalin injection in females at different phases of the estrous cycle.
Reducción del dolor inflamatorio en ratas hembras tras el antagonismo cortical de NR2B NMDA.Estudios han demostrado que los receptores de N-methyl-D-aspartato (NMDA) participan en el procesamiento del dolor en diferentes niveles del SNC. Este estudio empleó ratas hembras adultas Wistar para evaluar el antagonismo de la subunidad NR2B de NMDA en los procesos de dolor fásico y tónico. Se implantaron cánulas corticalmente con la cirugía estereotáxica y tras una semana de recuperación se realizaron pruebas conductuales. Se evaluaron los efectos del fármaco en la coordinación motora en el aparato de barra giratoria. Además, las ratas realizaron la prueba de latencia de retirada de la pata a un estímulo termal nocivo. Posteriormente, las ratas realizaron la prueba de formalina. Las ratas hembras que recibieron el antagonista de NR2B, Ro 25-6981, antes y después de la inyección de formalina denotaron respuestas de dolor significativamente menores en comparación con los controles (p<0.05). En contraste, no se encontraron diferencias significativas en la prueba de dolor fásico (Hargreaves) y la prueba de barra giratoria. En conjunto, estos resultados sugieren que el antagonismo cortical de la subunidad NR2B de los receptores NMDA es capaz de reducir los niveles de dolor inflamatorio, antes y después de la inyección de formalina en las distintas fases del ciclo estral.
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