SELECTIVE SEROTONIN REUPTAKE INHIBITORS MAY ENHANCE RESPONSES TO NOXIOUS-STIMULATION

The acute effects of various doses of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (fluoxetine and fluvoxamine) on thermal and electrical sti mulation-induced pain were investigated in drug-naive Wistar rats. The hot-plate and the tail-flick test and the noxious-induced withdrawal test were used. The two drugs had no effects on heat-induced pain beha vior. However, the two compounds enhanced the motor responses induced by noxious electrical stimulation. These data contrast to what is gene rally found for tricyclic antidepressants and suggest a modality speci fic pain system. Cardiac and blood pressure were also found to change, but these changes were not correlated to changes in nociception. Take n together, the data suggest that the acutely administered selective s erotonin reuptake inhibitors may exacerbate an acute type of pain. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.