Dissociation between antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of acetylsalicylic acid and indomethacin in the formalin test.

It is assumed that the mild analgesia produced by acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and indomethacin is due to a common mode of action, namely inhibition of the cyclo-oxygenase reaction in the synthesis of prostaglandins. It has, however, been difficult to separate the influence of the anti-inflammatory activity from pure analgesia in standard animal tests using a fully developed inflammatory state. In the present experiments a modification of the formalin test in mice is used. Licking of the injected paw is recorded after the injection of a small nociceptive amount of formalin (20 microliters, 1%). The results show that the response to formalin is biphasic with an early (0-5 min) and a late (20-30 min) phase of high licking activity. ASA had a dose-dependent antinociceptive effect during both the early and the late phases. In contrast, antinociceptive effect of indomethacin was found only during the late phase. On the basis of these results it may be suggested that inhibition of the cyclo-oxygenase reaction has no major effect on the early phase in the formalin test. This also suggests that ASA and indomethacin are antinociceptive through partially different modes of action. In addition to an anti-inflammatory effect common to both drugs, ASA may have a direct antinociceptive action.