Alpha lipoic acid attenuates evoked and spontaneous pain following surgical skin incision in rats

ABSTRACT

Our previous studies have implicated Ca_V3.2 isoform of T-type Ca2+ channels (T-channels) in the development of postsurgical pain. We have also previously established that different T-channel antagonists can alleviate in vivo postsurgical pain. Here we investigated the analgesic potential of another T-channel blocker and endogenous antioxidant molecule, α-lipoic acid (ALA), in a postsurgical pain model in rats. Our in vivo results suggest that single and repetitive intraperitoneal injections of ALA after surgery or preemptively, significantly reduced evoked mechanical hyperalgesia following surgical paw incision. Furthermore, repeated preemptive systemic injections of ALA effectively alleviated spontaneous postsurgical pain as determined by dynamic weight-bearing testing. We expect that our preclinical study may lead to further investigation of analgesic properties and mechanisms of analgesic action of ALA in patients undergoing surgery.

KEYWORDS:

• Postsurgical pain
• T-type calcium channel
• acute pain
• Alpha lipoic acid
• novel analgesics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded in part by the grant from the VA Merit Award (1I01BX004763-01A1) to SMT, and funds from the Department of Anesthesiology and the University of Colorado School of Medicine to SMT and VJT.