Effects of parecoxib on plasma protein extravasation and c-fos expression in the rat

Objective-We aimed to investigate the effects of the cyclooxygenases-2 (COX-2) inhibitor parecoxib on meningeal plasma protein extravasation (PPE) and on c-fos expression in the nucleus trigeminalis caudalis in an animal model of trigeminovascular activation. Background-Recent reports about the efficacy of COX-2 inhibitors in migraine treatment suggest the involvement of COX-2 in migraine pathophysiology. So far, studies on the role of COX-2 in animal models of migraine are lacking. Methods-Unilateral electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion was performed in anesthetized male Sprague Dawley rats. We assessed PPE in the ipsilateral dura mater and expression of c-fos within the ipsilateral trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) under control conditions and after pretreatment with parecoxib. Results-Parecoxib significantly attenuated PPE in the rat dura mater. The PPE ratio under control conditions (1.73 +/- 0.19 (mean +/- SD)) was reduced by 58.9 +/- 30% after pretreatment with 10 mg/kg parecoxib and by 78.1 +/- 23% after pretreatment with 50 mg/kg. c-fos experiments: Compared with vehicle, all doses of parecoxib (1 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg) significantly reduced the number of c-fos positive cells in the ipsilateral TNC (P < .05). The number of c-fos positive cells in the ipsilateral TNC was 50 +/- 2.7 (mean +/- SEM) under control conditions and 9.1 +/- 0.6 after pretreatment with 50 mg/kg parecoxib. Conclusion-Our study results suggest that COX-2 is involved in neurogenic inflammation of the rat dura mater. Moreover, the study points to a role of COX-2 inhibitors in trigeminal nociception at the second-order level.