Evaluation Of Activity Of Buspirone Against Pain In Animal Models

Abstract

Pain treatment has undergone many strides over past few years and a number of drugs are now available for treatment. These drugs are broadly classified into two groups- Non-narcotic non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and Opioids analgesics. These drugs act by different mechanisms and have brought about remarkable changes in the pain treatment. They have abuse liability which is their main drawback and have other adverse effects like respiratory depression. Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have adverse effects like Gastro-intestinal disturbance, prolonged bleeding time, and sodium and water retention.  Hence the search for an ideal analgesic drug continues. Buspirone is a 5HT_1A receptor partial agonist and mainly used in the treatment of anxiety and depression^{5, 7}. It has shown marked analgesic effect in tail – flick and hot plate tests on rats. Buspirone  produced significant analgesia. In some studies 5HT_1A agonist shows hyperalgesic effect⁶. In view of this contradictory findings analgesic activity of Buspirone needs to be evaluated and its mechanism of action needs to be explored.