ABSTRACT
The present study investigated the role of central GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors in orofacial pain in rats. Experiments were conducted on Sprague-Dawley rats weighing between 230 and 280 g. Intracisternal catheterization was performed for intracisternal injection, under ketamine anesthesia. Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA)-induced thermal hyperalgesia and inferior alveolar nerve injury-induced mechanical allodynia were employed as orofacial pain models. Intracisternal administration of bicuculline, a GABA(A) receptor antagonist, produced mechanical allodynia in naive rats, but not thermal hyperalgesia. However, CGP35348, a GABA(B) receptor antagonist, did not show any pain behavior in naive rats. Intracisternal administration of muscimol, a GABA(A) receptor agonist, attenuated the thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia in rats with CFA treatment and inferior alveolar nerve injury, respectively. On the contrary, intracisternal administration of bicuculline also attenuated the mechanical allodynia in rats with inferior alveolar nerve injury. Intracisternal administration of baclofen, a GABA(B) receptor agonist, attenuated the thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia in rats with CFA treatment and inferior alveolar nerve injury, respectively. In contrast to GABA(A) receptor antagonist, intracisternal administration of CGP35348 did not affect either the thermal hyperalgesia or mechanical allodynia. Our current findings suggest that the GABA(A) receptor, but not the GABA(B) receptor, participates in pain processing under normal conditions. Intracisternal administration of GABA(A) receptor antagonist, but not GABA(B) receptor antagonist, produces paradoxical antinociception under pain conditions. These results suggest that central GABA has differential roles in the processing of orofacial pain, and the blockade of GABA(A) receptor provides new therapeutic targets for the treatment of chronic pain.