Single doses of the serotonin agonists buspirone and m-chlorophenylpiperazine do not relieve neuropathic pain

• Published in: Pain (Amsterdam) Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 223 - 227
• Main Authors: Kishore-Kumar, Ranganna, Schafer, Susan C., Lawlor, Brian A., Murphy, Dennis L., Max, Mitchell B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.05.1989; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analgesics; Biological and medical sciences; Buspirone - therapeutic use; Clinical Trials as Topic; Controlled clinical trials; Deafferentation pain; Double-Blind Method; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neuralgia - drug therapy; Neuropathy; Neuropharmacology; Pain - drug therapy; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Pilot Projects; Piperazines - therapeutic use; Post-herpetic neuralgia; Psycholeptics: tranquillizer, neuroleptic; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Random Allocation; Receptors, Serotonin - drug effects; Deafferentation pain; Post-herpetic neuralgia; Neuropathy; Controlled clinical trials; Analgesics
• ISSN: 0304-3959; 1872-6623
• DOI: 10.1016/0304-3959(89)90134-6

A large body of evidence links serotonin with analgesia in animal models, but the lack of serotonin agonists suitable for clinical use has delayed study of serotonin's relevance to pain relief in humans. In a randomized, double-blind crossover study, we compared single doses of two 5-HT 1 agonists, buspirone and m-chlorophenylpiperazine, to placebo in 20 patients with post-herpetic neuralgia or painful neuropathy. No analgesia was observed after either drug, at doses high enough to produce frequent central nervous system side effects. These results suggest that acute stimulation of 5-HT 1 receptors is not sufficient to produce analgesia in patients with these neuropathic pain syndromes.