Effect of Acute and Chronic Administration of Carbamazepine on Cisplatin-Induced Hyperalgesia in Rats

BACKGROUND Cisplatin is an effective antineoplastic drug used extensively in the treatment of malignancies. It induces painful peripheral neuropathy at high doses. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of carbamazepine (CBZ) on cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathic pain by using the tail-flick test. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was performed using male Wistar rats weighing 180-200 g. Neuropathic pain was induced by intraperitoneal (IP) administration of cisplatin (5 mg/kg). The effect of oral (PO) CBZ administration (5, 10, and 15 mg/kg) on cisplatin-induced pain was assessed using the tail-flick test. RESULTS Our results showed that cisplatin (5 mg/kg, IP) induced egregious pain (P < 0.01) on day 15. Acute administration of CBZ (5, 10, and 15 mg/kg, PO) caused significant (P < 0.05) increase in tail-flick time latency in a dose-dependent manner, in comparison with that observed in the control group. Furthermore, chronic administration of CBZ (5, 10, and 15 mg/kg, PO) increased (P < 0.05) the pain threshold on days 5 and 10. The analgesic effect of morphine (5 mg/kg, IP) was greater than that after acute CBZ administration (5, 10, and 15 mg/kg, PO). CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that both acute and chronic CBZ administration attenuated cisplatin-induced pain. We suggest that CBZ can be used clinically for alleviating cisplatin-induced neuropathic pain in cancer patients, without any limitations such as tolerance to analgesic effect.