BACKGROUND: Neuropathic pain is complex, and a satisfactory therapeutic method of treatment has yet to be developed; therefore, finding a new and effective therapeutic method is an important issue in the field of neuropathic pain.OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on pain-related behaviours and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression in a rat model of neuropathic pain.METHODS: Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups (eight rats per group) including control, sham operation, sciatic nerve with chronic constriction injury (CCI), HBO pretreatment (pre-HBO) and HBO post-treatment (post-HBO) groups. Pain-related behaviours and NOS expression in the spinal cord were compared among the five groups.RESULTS: Compared with the CCI group, the mechanical withdrawal threshold was significantly increased and thermal withdrawal latency was significantly extended in the pre-HBO and post-HBO groups (all P<0.05). After CCI, expression of spinal neuronal NOS and inducible NOS were increased. Expression of spinal neuronal NOS and inducible NOS were significantly decreased in the pre-HBO and post-HBO groups compared with the CCI group (all P<0.05). Spinal eNOS expression changed very little.DISCUSSION: HBO has been used as an effective and noninvasive method for the treatment of spinal cord injuries and high-altitude sickness, and in immunosuppression and stem-cell research; however, it has yet to be applied to the treatment of neuropathic pain. The present study indicated that HBO effectively increased mechanical withdrawal threshold and thermal withdrawal latency, demonstrating that HBO has therapeutic effects on neuropathic pain.CONCLUSION: HBO inhibits pain in rats with CCI through the regulation of spinal NOS expression.

中文翻译：

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高压氧对神经性疼痛大鼠疼痛相关行为和一氧化氮合酶表达的影响

背景：神经性疼痛很复杂，尚未开发出令人满意的治疗方法。因此，寻找一种新的有效的治疗方法是神经性疼痛领域中的一个重要问题。目的：确定高压氧（HBO）对大鼠疼痛相关行为和一氧化氮合酶（NOS）表达的影响方法：将40只雄性Sprague Dawley大鼠随机分为五组（每组八只大鼠），包括对照组，假手术，坐骨神经慢性压迫性损伤（CCI），HBO预处理（HBO预处理）和HBO后处理（HBO后）组。比较五组患者的疼痛相关行为和脊髓中NOS的表达。结果：与CCI组比较，在HBO之前和之后，机械撤离阈值显着增加，热撤退潜伏期显着延长（所有P <0.05）。CCI后，脊髓神经元NOS和诱导型NOS的表达增加。与CCI组相比，HBO前和HBO后组脊髓神经元NOS和诱导型NOS的表达均明显降低（均P <0.05）。讨论：脊髓eNOS的表达变化很小。讨论：HBO已被用作治疗脊髓损伤和高原反应以及免疫抑制和干细胞研究的一种有效且无创的方法。然而，它尚未被应用于神经性疼痛的治疗。本研究表明，HBO可有效提高机械退缩阈值和热退缩潜伏期，