Molecular Pain

official impact factor 4.15

Open Access Short report

Prolonged gabapentin analgesia in an experimental mouse model of fibromyalgia

Michiko Nishiyori and Hiroshi Ueda*

Author Affiliations

Division of Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan

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Molecular Pain 2008, 4:52 doi:10.1186/1744-8069-4-52

Published: 6 November 2008

Abstract

In a new mouse model for generalized pain syndrome, including fibromyalgia, which used intermittent cold stress (ICS), bilateral allodynia in the hindpaw was observed that lasted more than 12 days; thermal hyperalgesia lasted 15 days. During constant cold stress (CCS), mice showed only a transient allodynia. A female prevalence in ICS-induced allodynia was observed in gonadectomized but not in gonad intact mice. Systemic gabapentin showed complete anti-allodynic effects in the ICS model at the one-tenth dose for injury-induced neuropathic pain model, and central gabapentin showed long-lasting analgesia for 4 days in ICS, but not the injury model. These results suggest that the ICS model is useful for the study of generalized pain syndrome.