urb-597 and Osteoarthritis

Chronic pain is a persistent, complex condition that contributes to impaired mood, anxiety and emotional problems. Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the major causes of chronic pain in adults and elderly people. A substantial body of evidence demonstrate that hippocampal neural circuits, especially monoamine dopamine and serotonin levels, contributes to negative affect and avoidance motivation experienced during pain. Current pharmacological strategies for OA patients are unsatisfying and the endocannabinoid system modulation might represent an alternative for the treatment of OA-related pain. In the present study, we used a rat model of osteoarthritis induced by intra-articular injection of sodium monoiodoacetate to assess, 28 days post-induction, the contribution of endocannabinoid system on the possible alteration in pain perception and affective behavior, in LTP and monoamine levels in the lateral entorhinal cortex-dentate gyrus pathway. The results show that OA-related chronic pain induces working memory impairment and depressive-like behavior appearance, diminishes LTP, decreases dopamine levels and increases serotonin levels in the rat dentate gyrus. URB597 administration (i.p., 1 mg/kg) reduces hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia, improves recognition memory and depressive-live behavior, restores LTP and normalizes monoamine levels in the hippocampus. The effect was observed 60-120 min post-treatment and was blocked by AM251, which proves the action of URB597 via the CB

Topics: Amines; Animals; Chronic Pain; Dopamine; Endocannabinoids; Hippocampus; Hyperalgesia; Osteoarthritis; Rats; Serotonin

The endocannabinoid system has been shown to reduce inflammatory flares and pain in rodent models of arthritis. A limitation of endocannabinoids is that they are rapidly denatured by hydrolysing enzymes such as fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) which renders them physiologically inert. Osteoarthritis (OA) is primarily a degenerative joint disease; however, it can incorporate mild inflammation and peripheral neuropathy. The aim of this study was to determine whether early blockade of FAAH bioactivity could reduce OA-associated inflammation and joint neuropathy. The ability of this treatment to prevent end-stage OA pain development was also tested.. Physiological saline or sodium monoiodoacetate (MIA; 0.3 mg) was injected into the right knee of male C57Bl/6 mice (20-42 g) and joint inflammation (oedema, blood flow and leukocyte trafficking) was measured over 14 days. Joint inflammation was also measured in a separate cohort of animals treated on day 1 with either saline or the FAAH inhibitor URB597 (0.03-0.3 mg/kg topical onto the knee joint). In other experiments, von Frey hair tactile sensitivity was determined on days 1 and 14 in MIA-injected mice treated prophylactically with URB597 (0.3 mg/kg s.c. over the knee joint on days 0-3). Saphenous nerve myelination was also assessed in these animals on day 14 by G-ratio analysis.. Intra-articular injection of MIA caused an increase in joint oedema (P < 0.0001), blood flow (P < 0.05), leukocyte rolling (P < 0.05) and adherence (P < 0.001) on day 1 after treatment which subsequently resolved over later time points. This acute inflammatory response was ameliorated by local URB597 treatment. Prophylactic local administration of URB597 prevented MIA-induced saphenous nerve demyelination, and chronic joint pain was also attenuated.. These data indicate that local inhibition of FAAH in MIA-injected knees can reduce acute inflammatory changes associated with the model. Prophylactic treatment of OA mice with the endocannabinoid hydrolysis inhibitor URB597 was also shown to be neuroprotective and prevented the development of joint pain at later time points.

Topics: Amidohydrolases; Animals; Arthralgia; Benzamides; Carbamates; Inflammation; Knee Joint; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Osteoarthritis; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases

The pharmacological inhibition of anandamide (AEA) hydrolysis by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) attenuates pain in animal models of osteoarthritis (OA) but has failed in clinical trials. This may have occurred because AEA also activates transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1), which contributes to pain development. Therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of the dual FAAH-TRPV1 blocker OMDM-198 in an MIA-model of osteoarthritic pain. We first investigated the MIA-induced model of OA by (1) characterizing the pain phenotype and degenerative changes within the joint using X-ray microtomography and (2) evaluating nerve injury and inflammation marker (ATF-3 and IL-6) expression in the lumbar dorsal root ganglia of osteoarthritic rats and differences in gene and protein expression of the cannabinoid CB1 receptors FAAH and TRPV1. Furthermore, we compared OMDM-198 with compounds acting exclusively on FAAH or TRPV1. Osteoarthritis was accompanied by the fragmentation of bone microstructure and destroyed cartilage. An increase of the mRNA levels of ATF3 and IL-6 and an upregulation of AEA receptors and FAAH in the dorsal root ganglia were observed. OMDM-198 showed antihyperalgesic effects in the OA model, which were comparable with those of a selective TRPV1 antagonist, SB-366,791, and a selective FAAH inhibitor, URB-597. The effect of OMDM-198 was attenuated by the CB1 receptor antagonist, AM-251, and by the nonpungent TRPV1 agonist, olvanil, suggesting its action as an "indirect" CB1 agonist and TRPV1 antagonist. These results suggest an innovative strategy for the treatment of OA, which may yield more satisfactory results than those obtained so far with selective FAAH inhibitors in human OA.

Topics: Activating Transcription Factor 3; Amidohydrolases; Anilides; Animals; Arachidonic Acids; Benzamides; Capsaicin; Carbamates; Cinnamates; Disease Models, Animal; Endocannabinoids; Ganglia, Spinal; Gene Expression; Hyperalgesia; Inflammation; Interleukin-6; Lumbar Vertebrae; Male; Osteoarthritis; Pain; Pain Management; Pain Measurement; Piperidines; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Pyrazoles; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1; TRPV Cation Channels

The present study examined whether enhancement of endogenous cannabinoid levels by administration of the fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor URB597 could modulate joint nociception in 2 rodent models of osteoarthritis (OA). OA-like changes were induced in male Wistar rats by intra-articular injection of monoiodoacetate, while Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs (age 9-12 months) develop OA naturally and were used as a model of spontaneous OA. Joint nociception was measured by recording electrophysiologically from knee joint primary afferents in response to noxious hyper-rotation of the joint before and after close intra-arterial injection of URB597 (0.03 mg; 0.1 mL bolus); the CB(1) receptor antagonist AM251 (1 mg/kg intraperitoneally) or the CB(2) receptor antagonist AM630 (1 mg/kg intraperitoneally). The effect of systemic URB597 administration (5 mg/kg) on joint pain perception in the monoiodoacetate model was determined by hindlimb incapacitance. Peripheral injection of URB597 caused afferent firing rate to be significantly reduced by up to 56% in the rat OA model and by up to 69% in the guinea pig OA model. Systemic co-administration of AM251, but not AM630, abolished the antinociceptive effect of URB597 in both models. URB597 had no effect in saline-injected control rat joints or in nonarthritic guinea pigs. Systemic URB597 administration significantly reduced hindlimb incapacitance in monoiodoacetate joints and co-administration of the CB(1) antagonist abolished this effect. Local injection of URB597 into OA knee joints reduces mechanonociception and pain, and this response is mediated by CB(1) receptors. Targeting endocannabinoid-metabolizing enzymes in the peripheral nervous system could offer novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of OA pain.

Topics: Action Potentials; Afferent Pathways; Age Factors; Animals; Arthralgia; Benzamides; Carbamates; Diclofenac; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzyme Inhibitors; Guinea Pigs; Indoles; Iodoacetic Acid; Male; Nociceptors; Osteoarthritis; Piperidines; Pyrazoles; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Time Factors; Weight-Bearing

Topics: Amidohydrolases; Animals; Benzamides; Carbamates; Enzyme Inhibitors; Osteoarthritis; Pain