| RESEARCH PAPER |
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| Year : 2004 | Volume
: 36
| Issue : 6 | Page : 351-354 |
Calcium channel blockers reduce inflammatory edema in the rat: Involvement of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis
M Khaksari1, SE Mahani2, M Mahmoodi3
1 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Kerman, Iran
2 Department of Physiology, Jahrom School of Medicine, Jahrom, Iran
3 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan, Iran
Correspondence Address:
M Khaksari
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Kerman
Iran
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of calcium channel blockers and their mechanisms of action on acute inflammation of rat paw.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted using carrageenan-induced rat paw inflammation model. Two different doses of nifedipine and verapamil (25 and 400 µg/kg, i.p.) were used. Edema was assessed by calculating the volume changes and by extravasation of Evans blue dye.
RESULTS: Nifedipine reduced edema dose-dependently, whereas verapamil was effective only at low dose. Adrenalectomy prevented the effect of nifedipine and verapamil. With low dose of nifedipine 66% of antiinflammatory effect was observed. Pretreatment with -helical corticotropin releasing factor (CRF 9-41), a corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) receptor antagonist, had the same effect as that of adrenalectomy for either doses of verapamil, but only the effect of low-dose nifedipine was prevented completely.
CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that verapamil and nifedipine exerts a potent antiinflammatory action possibly through pituitary adrenocortical activation.
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