An experimental study to evaluate and compare the analgesic activity of calcitriol with morphine in albino mice at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Maharashtra, India
Background: Vitamin D plays vital role in physiological functions in humans through its active form Calcitriol (Vitamin D3). Vitamin D receptors are found in most tissues, attributing to its classic and non-classic actions. Calcitriol exerts important regulatory effects on the molecular pathways involved in inflammation and pain. The present study is done for experimental evaluation of analgesic action of Calcitriol using pain models in albino mice.Methods: In this prospective, experimental study, healthy Swiss albino mice were taken after permission from IAEC. Mice were divided into five groups as Control- treated with normal saline, Standard- treated with morphine and Test groups- treated with Calcitriol in dose of 15 µg /kg/mice, 30 µg /kg/mice and 60 µg/kg/mice respectively. Evaluation of analgesic activity was done using Hot plate and Tail flick analgesiometer.Results: All the 3 test doses of Calcitriol although showed prolongation of reaction time in Hot plate method up to 60 mins but the analgesic activity was not significant in comparison with the standard Morphine. With Tail flick method Calcitriol failed to show any analgesic efficacy at 15-30 μg/Kg but showed some analgesia at 60 μg/Kg which was more than control but not at all comparable with the standard Morphine for thermal pain.Conclusions: The analgesic activity of Calcitriol was exhibited at higher doses. This property needs to be further evaluated by planning extensive animal experimentation using different animal models.