[Capsaicin-induced mouse ear edema and its management].

Oedema was induced in one ear of male mice of the CFLP strain with capsaicin solution (10 microliters/40 micrograms/ear). The development in time and the extent of the oedema were determined by the oedema-disk gravimetric technique. The maximum oedema was attained after 1 hour, and there was subsequently a gradual decrease. The extent of the mouse ear oedema induced in this way and measured after 60 minutes was inhibited to a statistically significant degree and in a dose-dependent manner by the antihistamine chloropyramine, the antihistamine-antiserotonin cyproheptadine, the non-steroidal antiinflammatory agent pyroxicam, the prostaglandin antagonist di-4-phloretin phosphate, and the lipoxygenase inhibitor nordihydroguaiaretic acid. The method proved suitable for the detection and biologically quantitative determination of the state of desensitization induced with capsaicin.