Dibutyryl cAMP stimulates analgesia in rats bearing a ventricular adrenal medulla transplant

In the present study, a significant increase in pain threshold (current to elicit vocalization to tail shock) was found 15 and 60 min after injection of dibutyryl cyclic AMP (db cAMP) (30 μg) into the lateral ventricle in rats bearing a transplant of fetal adrenal medulla (AM). By contrast, no effect on pain threshold was observed in rats bearing an AM transplant but receiving no db cAMP, or in rats receiving db cAMP but not bearing an AM transplant. In primary cultures of rat fetal chromaffin cells, db cAMP increased the number of neuron-like cells that showed both vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)- and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-like immunoreactivity. These findings indicate that db cAMP exerts a pharmacological modulation of the functional activity (i.e. elevation in pain thresholds) of fetal adrenal AM transplants, and induces phenotypic changes in cultured chromaffin cells with expression of a peptide that elevates pain threshold.