Antagonists Regulate Nociceptive Sensitization

Pharmacological assays with antagonists and inhibitors were performed to investigate possible mechanisms that are relevant to nociceptive sensitization in the mouse model of incisional pain. Treatments included: anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibody Infliximab (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) [61 (link)], non-selective COX inhibitor indomethacin (10 mg/kg, orally) [62 (link)], NF-kB antagonist PDTC (25–100 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) [63 (link)], p38 antagonist SB203580 (2.5–20 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) [64 (link)], ERK antagonist PD98059 (0.3–3 mg/kg, subcutaneously) [65 (link)], and JNK antagonist SP600125 (25–100 mg/kg, subcutaneously) [66 (link)]. Infliximab, indomethacin, and PDTC were purchased from Sigma (Saint Louis, MA, USA). SB203580, PD98059, and SP600125 were purchased from Tocris Bioscience (Bristol, UK). Treatments were made one hour before plantar incision and followed by nociceptive threshold evaluation and Real-Time PCR for detecting Na_v1.8 and Na_v1.9 transcription in the DRG, as described in previous sections.