Calcitonin gene-related peptide increases in the dorsal root ganglia of adjuvant arthritic rat.

We examined the effect of adjuvant arthritis on the content of immunoreactive calcitonin gene-related peptide (iCGRP) in the dorsal root ganglia at L4-L6 levels and the spinal cord at a lumbar level in rats. Arthritis was induced by inoculating adjuvant into both hind-paws twice at a 10 day interval. In the arthritic rats 15 days after the first inoculation (day 15), the content of iCGRP was significantly increased in the dorsal root ganglia, with no change in the dorsal and ventral horns. The content in the dorsal root ganglia was still high on day 26 and had decreased by day 40. An intrathecal injection of colchicine (0.2 mg, 18 hr before killing) enhanced the increase of iCGRP in the dorsal root ganglia and decreased it in the dorsal horn of arthritic rats, although in noninoculated rats such treatment produced no significant changes in the content of iCGRP in both regions. The arthritis-induced increase in the content of iCGRP in the dorsal root ganglia was significantly reduced after treatment with the antiinflammatory analgesic, diclofenac sodium, in a dose of 3 mg/kg/day, PO for 10 days. Swelling and hyperalgesia in the hind-paw were depressed after such treatment. These results suggest that adjuvant arthritis with long-lasting inflammation with pain facilitates the turnover, especially biosynthesis, of CGRP in primary afferent neurons.