Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may enhance responses to noxious stimulation.
The acute effects of various doses of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (fluoxetine and fluvoxamine) on thermal and electrical stimulation-induced pain were investigated in drug-naive Wistar rats. The hot-plate and the tail-flick test and the noxious-induced withdrawal test were used. The two drugs had no effects on heat-induced pain behavior. However, the two compounds enhanced the motor responses induced by noxious electrical stimulation. These data contrast to what is generally found for tricyclic antidepressants and suggest a modality specific pain system. Cardiac and blood pressure were also found to change, but these changes were not correlated to changes in nociception. Taken together, the data suggest that the acutely administered selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may exacerbate an acute type of pain.
Dirksen
R
R
NICI/Experimental Anesthesiology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Van Luijtelaar
E L
EL
Van Rijn
C M
CM
D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016666:Fluvoxamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*
D005473:Fluoxetine; D016666:Fluvoxamine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors