Abstract

Objective
To investigate the characteristics of the central neuropathic pain (CNP) after contusive spinal cord injury in rats. Method: Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats (300⁑50 g, male) undergone the free-drop contusion injury from the drop- height of 2.5 cm at T10 cord (n=20) and ten rats undergone sham operation (n=10) were subjected to the neurobehavioral analyses by the Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scales, Touch test^TM sensory evaluator (TTSE, North Coast Medical Inc., Canada) and Plantar test^Ⱂ (Ugo Basile, Italy) after contusion at the 1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th, 14^th, 21^st and 28^th day. Results: The scores of BBB scales were the lowest at the1^st day and then slowly increased to spontaneous recovery state, but they were significantly lower than those of control group (p＜0.05). The thresholds of mechanical allodynia were significantly increased just after cord contusion, but progressed to decline, and significantly decreased after the 21^st day (p＜0.05). The latencies of thermal hyperalgesia were delayed just after cord contusion, but significantly shorter than those of the control group after the 7^th day (p＜0.05). Conclusion: These results would be helpful for the study of the CNP after contusive spinal cord injury in rats. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2006; 30: 142-147)

• Keywords: Central neuropathic pain, Spnal cord injury, Mechanical allodynia, Thermal hyperalgesia