Department of Clinical Pharmacology, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2009 Nov-Dec;34(6):549-52. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0b013e3181b494cb.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitory profile are effective analgesics in the postoperative period. This implies that surgery induces COX-2 biosynthesis. We examined whether peripheral surgical trauma can induce COX-2 expression in the rat cervical spinal cord.
Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups. The control group underwent general anesthesia but had no surgery. The surgical group underwent general anesthesia and surgical exposure of neck structures. After 14 days, the animals were euthanized, and a section of cervical spinal cord was taken to identify COX-1 and COX-2 expression by immunohistochemical analysis. Two independent blinded observers analyzed the slides.
Analysis of COX-1 protein expression revealed homogenous staining in glial cells in all regions of the cervical spinal cord examined. There was no difference in expression between the control and surgical groups. However, whereas the control group demonstrated minimal COX-2 expression, the surgical group showed extensive neuronal and glial cell cytoplasmic COX-2 expression.
This study demonstrates that surgery induces COX-2 expression in the rat cervical spinal cord. This could provide a scientific rationale for the use of selective COX-2 inhibitors as analgesics in the postoperative period.
具有选择性环氧化酶-2（COX-2）抑制作用的非甾体类抗炎药在术后期间是有效的镇痛药。这意味着手术会诱导 COX-2 的生物合成。我们研究了外周手术创伤是否会引起大鼠颈脊髓 COX-2 的表达。
将 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠分为 2 组。对照组接受全身麻醉但无手术。手术组接受全身麻醉和颈部结构的手术暴露。14 天后，处死动物，取一段颈脊髓通过免疫组织化学分析鉴定 COX-1 和 COX-2 的表达。两位独立的盲法观察者分析切片。
COX-1 蛋白表达分析显示，在检查的颈脊髓所有区域，神经胶质细胞均有均匀染色。对照组和手术组之间无差异。然而，对照组 COX-2 表达很少，而手术组则显示广泛的神经元和神经胶质细胞胞质 COX-2 表达。
本研究表明手术会诱导大鼠颈脊髓 COX-2 的表达。这为在术后期间使用选择性 COX-2 抑制剂作为镇痛药提供了科学依据。
