The effect of Dapoxetine on Chronic Constriction Injury (CCI) induced neuralgia in rats

Introduction. Recent studies have shown that SSRIs have anti-inflammatory effects, and their administration prevents their production by acting on inflammatory cytokines. Emphasizing that we did not find a study on Dapoxetine and its effect on neuropathic pain, in this study, we examined the effect of Dapoxetine on neuropathic pain in rats. Material and methods. 42 rats were divided into six groups of 7, which included: sham, control, gabapentin, Duloxetine and Dapoxetine 1 and 3. Except for the sham group, other groups were induced with neuropathy, and no drug treatment was performed in the sham group. The groups were treated with normal saline, gabapentin (30 mg/kg/day), Duloxetine at (30 mg/kg/day) and Dapoxetine (1 and 3 mg/kg/day), respectively by intraperitoneal injection. Then, thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical and thermal allodynia experiments were performed on rats. Results. The Dapoxetine-treated groups’ mean response to thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia increased on days 7 and 14. The mean response of the 3 mg/kg Dapoxetine group on day 7 was significantly higher than the control group (P <0.05). Mean response to mechanical and thermal allodynia-induced stimulation and thermal hyperactivity in the Dapoxetine group 3 mg/kg at 14 days, compared with the Dapoxetine group 1 mg/kg showed significantly better results (P <0.05). Conclusion. Dapoxetine effectively reduces the behavioral response to painful and non-painful thermal and mechanical stimuli and painful thermal and mechanical stimuli. In addition to its short-term analgesic effects, it also has long-term effects.