Background
Chronic pain is associated with depression. In rodents, pain is often assessed by sensory hypersensitivity, which does not sufficiently measure affective responses. Low-dose ketamine has been used to treat both pain and depression, but it is not clear whether ketamine can relieve depression associated with chronic pain and whether this antidepressant effect depends on its antinociceptive properties.
Methods
The authors examined whether the spared nerve injury model of neuropathic pain induces depressive behavior in rats, using sucrose preference test and forced swim test, and tested whether a subanesthetic dose of ketamine treats spared nerve injury-induced depression.
Results
Spared nerve injury-treated rats, compared with control rats, showed decreased sucrose preference (0.719 ± 0.068 (mean ± SEM) vs. 0.946 ± 0.010) and enhanced immobility in the forced swim test (107.3 ± 14.6s vs. 56.2 ± 12.5s). Further, sham-operated rats demonstrated depressive behaviors in the acute postoperative period (0.790 ± 0.062 on postoperative day 2). A single subanesthetic dose of ketamine (10 mg/kg) did not alter spared nerve injury-induced hypersensitivity; however, it treated spared nerve injury-associated depression-like behaviors (0.896 ± 0.020 for ketamine vs. 0.663 ± 0.080 for control rats 1 day after administration; 0.858 ± 0.017 for ketamine vs. 0.683 ± 0.077 for control rats 5 days after administration).
Conclusions
Chronic neuropathic pain leads to depression-like behaviors. The postoperative period also confers vulnerability to depression, possibly due to acute pain. Sucrose preference test and forced swim test may be used to compliment sensory tests for assessment of pain in animal studies. Low-dose ketamine can treat depression-like behaviors induced by chronic neuropathic pain.
Accumulation of Cav3.2 T-type Calcium Channels in the Uninjured Sural Nerve Contributes to Neuropathic Pain in Rats with Spared Nerve Injury
