Chronic pain is a heavy burden disease. Current treatments are generally weakly effective or associated with adverse effects. New therapeutic approaches are therefore needed. Recent studies have suggested T-type calcium channels as an attractive target for the treatment of chronic pain. In this perspective, it was decided to perform a preclinical evaluation of the efficacy of ethosuximide, a T-type channel blocker used clinically as an antiepileptic, as a novel pharmacological treatment for chronic pain. Assessment of the effect of ethosuximide was thus made in both nociception and pain-related comorbidities as anxiety and depression are frequently encountered in chronic pain patients. Our results show that such symptoms occurred in three animal models of chronic pain designed to reflect traumatic neuropathic, chemotherapy-induced neuropathic and inflammatory pain conditions. Administration of ethosuximide reduced both chronic pain and comorbidities with a marked intensity ranging from partial reduction to a complete suppression of symptoms. These results make ethosuximide, and more broadly the inhibition of T-type calcium channels, a new strategy for the management of uncontrolled chronic pain, likely to improve not only pain but also the accompanying anxiety and depression.

中文翻译：

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乙琥胺改善慢性疼痛引起的焦虑和抑郁样行为

慢性疼痛是一种负担沉重的疾病。目前的治疗通常效果不佳或伴有不良反应。因此需要新的治疗方法。最近的研究表明 T 型钙通道是治疗慢性疼痛的一个有吸引力的目标。从这个角度来看，决定对乙琥胺（一种临床上用作抗癫痫药的 T 型通道阻滞剂）作为慢性疼痛的新型药物治疗的疗效进行临床前评估。由于慢性疼痛患者经常遇到焦虑和抑郁，因此评估了乙琥胺在伤害感受和疼痛相关合并症中的作用。我们的研究结果表明，此类症状发生在三种旨在反映创伤性神经病理性、慢性疼痛的动物模型中。化疗引起的神经性和炎症性疼痛。乙琥胺的给药减轻了慢性疼痛和合并症，强度从部分减轻到症状完全抑制不等。这些结果使乙琥胺，以及更广泛地抑制 T 型钙通道，成为治疗不受控制的慢性疼痛的新策略，不仅可以改善疼痛，还可以改善伴随的焦虑和抑郁。