Chronic vitamin C administration induces thermal hyperalgesia in male rats

Abstract

Against a backdrop of neurological effects, the effects of acute and chronic administration of vitamin C (600mg/kg) on pain processing were investigated in male rats. Chronic administration of vitamin C induced significant thermal hyperalgesia while acute administration had no effect. In addition, the intraperitoneal administration of vitamin C produced observable abdominal writtings similar to what has been observed with acetic acid. We conclude that chronic vitamin C exerts facilitatory central nervous system effects and a possibility of using intraperitoneal injection of vitamin C as an animal model of pain is suggested.

Keywords: vitamin C, pain, hyperalgesia, nociception, ascorbic acid

Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 4(2) 2005: 153-155