Acetylcholine participates in pain modulation by influencing endogenous opiate peptides in rat spinal cord

Jun Yang, Ying Zhao, Yanjuan Pan, Guangzhou Lu, Lu Lu, Daxin Wang, Jingcheng Wang

College of Pharmacy, Xinxiang Medical University, Xixiang, China.
Jiangsu Su Bei People’s Hospital, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.

DOI: 10.4236/wjns.2012.21003                

Abstract

The spinal cord is a necessary pathway that transfers the body nociceptive inputs to the brain, and endo-genous opiate peptides (EOP) play an important role in pain modulation. Our previous work has proven that arginine vasopressin (AVP) antinociception in the caudate nucleus (CdN) relates with the acetylcholine (Ach) system mainly. The communication was de-signed to investigate the interrelations between Ach system and EOP system at the spinal level during pain process. The results showed that: 1) pain stimulation increased L-enkephalin (L-Ek), β-endorphin (β-Ep), dynorphin A1-13(DynA1-13), Ach and choline (Ch, an Ach metabolic product) concentrations in the spinal cord; 2) Ach increased L-Ek, β-Ep and DynA1-13 concentrations in the spinal cord; and 3) Atropine (M-receptor inhibitor) or hexahydric gallamine (N-receptor inhibitor) decreased L-Ek, β-Ep and DynA1-13 concentrations in the spinal cord. The data suggested that Ach antinociception was involved in the EOP system at the spinal level.

Keywords

Achetylcholine; Endogenous Opiate Peptide; Pain Modulation; Spinal Cord

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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