Naoya Yuzuriha1, Sosuke Yoshinaga1, Hiroshi Sato2, Sokichi Honda3, Keisuke Tamaki3, Toshihiro Sekizawa3, Akihiko Fujikawa3, and Hiroaki Terasawa1
1Department of Structural BioImaging, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan, 2Bruker Biospin K.K., Yokohama, Japan, 3Drug Discovery Research, Astellas Pharm. Inc., Tsukuba, Japan
The
aim of this study is to evaluate the analgesic effect of pregabalin on allodynia-specific
pain. fMRI images of fibromyalgia model rats were acquired, before and after pregabalin
administration. When treated with saline,
the BOLD signal intensities in the S1, IC, and TH were increased upon the laser
stimulation by up to 1.7%, 1.3%, and 1.8%, respectively. In contrast, in the pregabalin treated rats,
no BOLD responses were detected. It is
conceivable that the pain signals were inhibited by pregabalin, and thus the
stimulation-induced BOLD responses were not observed. We successfully observed the suppression of allodynia-specific
pain responses by pregabalin.