Strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors mediate analgesia induced by emulsified inhalation anaesthetics in thermal nociception but not in chemical nociception.

The present study was designed to investigate the role of strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors in analgesia induced by emulsified inhalation anaesthetics. After having established the mice model of analgesia by intraperitoneal or subcutaneous injections of appropriate doses of ether, enflurane, isoflurane or sevoflurane, we injected different doses of strychnine intrathecally and then observed the effects on the tail-flick latency using the tail-withdrawal test and the writhing times and acetic acid-induced writhing test. In the tail-withdrawal test, all four emulsified inhalation anaesthetics (intraperitoneally) significantly increased the tail-flick latency (P < 0.01) compared with baseline, and the increase of tail-flick latency induced by four emulsified inhalation anaesthetics can be abolished by intrathecally injected strychnine. In the acetic acid-induced writhing test, writhing times inhibition induced by subcutaneous administration of four emulsified inhalation anaesthetics was not effected by intrathecal strychnine (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 microg). The data presented in this study suggest that glycine receptors are specifically involved in mediating the analgesic effect of ether, enflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane on thermal-induced nociception but not chemically induced nociception.