Characterization of Socio-psychological Stress-Induced Antinociception in the Formalin Test in Mice

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Pharmacology Vol. 79; no. 1; pp. 83 - 87
• Main Authors: Masakatsu, Takahashi, Hiroshi, Kaneto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan The Japanese Pharmacological Society 1999
• Subjects: Analgesia; Animals; Communication box; Electroshock - adverse effects; Emotional stress; Formaldehyde - administration & dosage; Formaldehyde - adverse effects; Formalin test; Male; Mice; Pain - chemically induced; Pain - physiopathology; Physical Stimulation; Social Environment; Socio-psychological stress; Stress, Physiological - physiopathology; Stress, Psychological - physiopathology; Stress-induced analgesia (SIA); Swimming - physiology; Tail - physiopathology; Time Factors; Stress-induced analgesia (SIA); Emotional stress; Socio-psychological stress; Communication box; Formalin test
• ISSN: 0021-5198; 1347-3506
• DOI: 10.1254/jjp.79.83

The antinociceptive effect induced by exposure to socio-psychological (PSY) stress using a communication box was assessed by the formalin test in mice, compared with those by exposure to foot-shock (FS) stress and forced swimming (SW) stress. After the termination of stress exposure, whereas exposure to FS- and SW-stress resulted in the attenuation of the formalin-induced biphasic pain response over 15 min, no appreciable antinociceptive effect was found in the case of PSY stress. When exposure to PSY stress was started during the period of early or late phase of pain after the formalin injection, the antinociceptive effect was maintained for 5–15 min; however, further exposure to PSY stress was not effective for producing antinociception. In the tail-pinch test, likewise, exposure to PSY stress longer than 5 min rather decreased the intensity of antinociception. We conclude that PSY stress in this tonic pain paradigm produces antinociception, but further continuous exposure to the emotional stress caused mice to become recuperative even in such a fear-inducing situation.