Possible analgesic effect of vigabatrin in animal experimental chronic neuropathic pain

Since anticonvulsants have been used for treating neuralgias, an interest has arisen to experimentally test vigabatrin for its gabaergic mechanism of action. For this, 41 Wistar rats were used, and in 25 of them a constrictive sciatic neuropathy was induced (Bennet & Xie model). For testing pain symptoms, spontaneous (scratching) and evoked behaviors to noxious (46o C) and non-noxious (40o C) thermal stimuli were quantified. Moreover, a comparative pharmacological study of vigabatrin with other analgesic anticonvulsant drugs was also performed. The results showed a possible dose-dependent analgesic effect of vigabatrin (gamma-vinyl-GABA) on experimental neuropathic pain, as shown by the significant (p