Abstract
The present study examined the hyponociceptive effect of swimming exercise in a chemical
behavioral model of nociception and the mechanisms involved in this effect. Male mice
were submitted to swimming sessions (30 min/d for 5 days). Twenty-four hours after
the last session, we noticed that swimming exercise decreased the number of abdominal
constriction responses caused by acetic acid compared with the nonexercised group.
The hyponociception caused by exercise in the acetic acid test was significantly attenuated
by intraperitoneal (i.p.) pretreatment of mice with naloxone (a nonselective opioid
receptor antagonist, 1 mg/kg), ρ-chlorophenylalanine methyl ester (PCPA, an inhibitor
of serotonin synthesis, 100 mg/kg once a day for 4 consecutive days), and by bilateral
adrenalectomy. Collectively, the present results provide experimental evidences indicating
for the first time that high-intensity extended swimming exercise reduces pain-related
behavior in mice. The mechanisms involve an interaction with opioid and serotonin
systems. Furthermore, endogenous opioids released by adrenal glands probably are involved
in this effect.
Perspective
Our results indicate that high-intensity extended exercise endogenously controls acute
pain by activation of opioidergic and serotonergic pathways. Furthermore, these results
support the use of exercise as a nonpharmacological approach for the management of
acute pain.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 21, 2010
Accepted:
March 21,
2010
Received in revised form:
March 11,
2010
Received:
September 2,
2009
Footnotes
Supported by grants from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa Científica Tecnológica do Estado de Santa Catarina (FAPESC), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos [FINEP, Rede Instituto Brasileiro de Neurociência (IBN-Net)], Brazil.
Dr Leidiane Mazzardo-Martins and Dr Daniel F. Martins contributed equally to this work.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
