Summary
Adult frogs (Rana esculenta) were given subcutaneous injections of 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 mg/kg capsaicin in sequential order over 5 days, or the vehicle only. The nociceptive thresholds to electrical, thermal and chemical stimuli were measured before, and 1, 5 and 24 h after each injection. Capsaicin was followed by a dose-related reduction of nociceptive responses to all stimuli, but these effects lasted for only 1–5 h after the given injection. Water/acetic extracts of undivided brains and spinal cords were prepared at the corresponding time periods for the radioimmunoassay of peptides. Spinal cord concentrations of immunoreactive substance P were essentially unaffected by capsaicin, while those of immunoreactive somatostatin were significantly increased after the second for fourth injections (20, 30 and 50 mg/kg) of capsaicin. Brain extracts showed an increase of somatostatin and substance P concentrations after the dose of 50 mg/kg. In an additional experiment, immunoreactive substance P, somatostatin and cholecystokinin were measured in tissue samples taken at 2 and 10 min, and 1, 5 and 24 h after a single dose of either 50 mg/kg capsaicin or the vehicle. The only signficant effect of capsaicin was an increase of immunoreactive somatostatin concentration in brain homogenates at 5 h, while the vehicle in itself elicited major variations of all three peptides in spinal cord and/or brain. These results indicate that capsaicin reduces the nociceptive responses to cutaneous stimuli in adult frogs. This effect is transient, and bears no clear relationship to the variations of spinal cord nor of brain concentrations of immunoreactive substance P, somatostatin and cholecystokinin. In the present experimental conditions, the effects of the vehicle injection to neuropeptides far exceeded those of capsaicin itself.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akagi H, Otsuka M, Yanagisawa M (1980) Identification by high-performance liquid chromatography of immunoreactive SP released from isolated rat spinal cord. Neurosci Lett 20:259–263
Buck SH, Deshmukh PP, Yamamura HI, Burks TF (1981) Thermal analgesia and substanceP depletion induced by capsaicin in guinea-pigs. Neuroscience 6:2217–2223
Buck SH, Miller MS, Burks TF (1982) Depletion of primary afferent substance P by capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin without altered thermal sensitivity in rats. Brain Res 232:216–221
Cervero F, McRitchie HA (1981) Neonatal capsaicin and thermal nociception: a paradox. Brain Res 215:414–419
Chayvialle JA, Descos F, Martin A, Barbe C, Partensky C (1978) Somatostatin in mucosa of stomach and duodenum in gastroduodenal disease. Gastroenterology 75:13–19
Erspamer V, Falconieri-Erspamer G, Linari G (1977) Occurence of tachykinins (Physalemin or Substance P-like peptides) in the Amphibian skin and their actions on smooth muscle preparations. In: Von Euler US, Pernow B (eds) Substance P. Paven Press, New York, pp 67–74
Fourmy D, Pradayrol L, Antoniotti H, Esteve JP, Ribet A (1982) Purification of radio-iodinated cholecystokinin peptides by reverse phase HPLC. J Liq Chromat 5:757–766
Gamse R (1982) A capsaicin and nociception in the rat and mouse: possible role of substance-P. Arch Pharmacol 320:205–217
Gamse R, Molnar A, Lembeck F (1979) Substance-P release from spinal cord slices by capsaicin. Life Sci 25:629–636
Gamse R, Holzer P, Lembeck F (1980) Decrease of substance P in primary afferent neurones and impairment of neurogenic plasma extravasation by capsaicin. Br J Pharmacol 68:207–213
Gamse R, Lackner D, Gamse G, Leeman SE (1981) Effect of capsaicin pretreatment on capsaicin-evoked release of immunoreactive somatostatin and substance P from primary sensory neurons. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 316:38–41
Gamse R, Petsche U, Lembeck F, Jancso G (1982) Capsaicin applied to peripheral nerve inhibits axoplasmic transport of substanceP and somatostatin. Brain Res 239:447–463
Gibson SJ, Polak JM, Bloom SR, Wall PD (1981) The distribution of nine peptides in cat spinal cord with special emphasis on the substantia gelatinosa and on the area around the central canal (Lamina X). J Comp Neurol 201:65–79
Hayes AG, Tyers MB (1980) Effect of capsaicin on nociceptive heat, pressure and chemical thresholds and on substance P levels in the rat. Brain Res 189:561–564
Hayes AG, Scadding JW, Skingle M, Tyers MB (1981a) Effects of neonatal administration of capsaicin on nociceptive thresholds in the mouse and rat. J Pharm Pharmacol 33:183–185
Hayes AG, Skingle M, Tyers MB (1981b) Effects of single doses of capsaicin on nociceptive thresholds in the rodent. Neuropharmacology 20:505–513
Helke CJ, Selsky JH (1983) The effects of cysteamine and capsaicin on somatostatin and substance-P in medullary nuclei. Peptides 4:669–672
Helke CH, Dimicco JA, Jacobowitz DM, Kopin IJ (1981) Effect of capsaicin administration to neonatal rats on the substance-P content of discrete CNS regions. Brain Res 222:428–432
Hökfelt T, Johansson O, Lundberg JM, Schultzberg M (1980) Peptidergic neurons. Nature 284:515–521
Holzer P, Jurna I, Gamse R, Lembeck F (1979) Nociceptive threshold after neonatal capsaicin treatment. Eur J Pharmacol 58:511–514
Jancso G, Kiraly E, Jancso-Gabor A (1977) Pharmacologically induced selective degeneration of chemosensitive primary sensory neurons. Nature 270:741–743
Jancso G, Hökfelt T, Lundberg JM, Kiraly E, Halasz N, Nilsson G, Terenius L, Rehfeld J, Steinbusch H, Verhofstad A, Elde R, Said S, Brown M (1981) Immunohistochemical studies on the effect of capsaicin on spinal and medullary peptide and monoamine neurons using antisera to substance-P, gastrine/CCK, somatostatin, VIP, enkephalin, neurotensin and 5-hydroxytryptamine. J Neurocytol 10:963–980
Jessel TM, Iversen LL, Cuello AC (1978) Capsaicin-induced depletion of substance-P from primary sensory neurons. Brain Res 152:183–189
Kerdelhue B, Palkovits M, Karteszi M, Reinberg A (1981) Circadian variations in substance P, luliberin (LH-RN) and thyroliberin (TRH) contents in hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic brain nuclei of adult male rats. Brain Res 206:405–413
Lembeck F, Donnerer J (1981) Time-course of capsaicin-induced functional impairments in comparison with changes in neuronal substance-P content. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 316:240–243
Melzack R, Wall PD (1982) Le défi de la douleur. Maloine (ed), Paris, pp 413
Miller MS, Buck SH, Sipes G, Burks TF (1982) Capsaicinoid-induced local and systemic antinociception without substance-P depletion. Brain Res 244:193–197
Monsereenusorn Y, Kongsamut S, Pezalla PD (1982) Capsaicin — A literature survey. CRC Crit Rev Toxicol 10:321–339
Nagy JI (1982) Capsaicin's action on the nervous system. Trends in Neurosciences 5:362–365
Nagy JI, Vincent SR, Staines WA, Fibiger HC, Reisine TD, Yamamura HJ (1980) Neurotoxic action of capsaicin on spinal substance-P neurons. Brain Res 186:435–444
Nagy JI, Hunt SP, Iversen LL, Emson PC (1981) The effects of neonatal capsaicin treatment on dorsal root afferents. Pain [Suppl] 1:201
Saumet JL, Duclaux R (1982) Analgesia induced by neonatal capsaicin treatment in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 16: 241–243
Schultzberg M, Dockray GJ, Williams RG (1982) Capsaicin depletes CCK-like immunoreactivity detected by immunohistochemistry but not that measured by radioimmunoassay in rat dorsal spinal cord. Brai Res235:198–204
Vaysse N, Chayvialle JA, Pradayrol L, Esteve JP, Susini C, Lapuelle J, Descos F, Ribet A (1981) Somatostatin 28: Comparison with somatostatin 14 for plasma kinetics and low-dose effects on the exocrine pancreas in dogs. Gastroenterology 81:700–706
Yaksh TL, Farb DH, Leeman SE, Jessel TM (1979) Intrathecal capsaicin depletes substance-P in the rat spinal cord and produces prolonged thermal analgesia. Science 206:481–483
Yanagisawa M, Nakano S, Otsuka M (1981) Capsaicin-induced depolarization of primary afferent fibers and the release of substance-P from isolated rat spinal cord. In: Kanno T (ed) Paraneurons, their features and functions. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, pp 88–94
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chéry-Croze, S., Godinot, F., Jourdan, G. et al. Capsaicin in adult frogs: Effects on nociceptive responses to cutaneous stimuli and on nervous tissue concentrations of immunoreactive substance P, somatostatin and cholecystokinin. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 331, 159–165 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00634233
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00634233