AbstractChronic neuropathic pain is a pathology that affects thousands of people worldwide. Antidepressants have been prescribed for the treatment of this sort of pain but the mechanisms underlying their analgesic action remain unknown. Extracellular-signal regulated kinases (ERKs) are being implicated in pain transmission and modulation as well as in the pathophysiology of depression. In order to clarify some of the mechanisms which might be related to the analgesic effect of antidepressants, we started by evaluating possible changes in the pattern of activation of ERKs in rats with chronic constriction injury (CCI), an experimental model of chronic
ERK activation in noradrenergic and serotonergic brainstem nuclei in chronic pain upon noxious stimulation and antidepressants treatment