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    Indian J Exp Biol. 2001 Jul;39(7):636-42.

    Potentiation of analgesia and reversal of tolerance to morphine by calcium channel blockers.

    Verma V, Mediratta PK, Sharma KK.

    Department of Pharmacology, University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi, India. dbmi@ucms.ernet.in

    Effect of four calcium channel blockers (CCBs) belonging to different chemical classes, alone and in combination with morphine was investigated on two models of pain sensitivity, i.e. formalin and tail flick tests in mice. All the studied CCBs, i.e. diltiazem, flunarizine, nimodipine and verapamil inhibited formalin-induced pain responses; however, with verapamil, though there was a trend towards a reduction of paw-licking response to formalin, it was not found to be statistically significant. In contrast, none of the CCBs affected the tail flick latency at any of the doses studied. Morphine, a mu-receptor agonist exerted a significant analgesic effect in formalin as well in tail flick tests. Pretreatment with all CCBs significantly enhanced the analgesic effect of morphine in both tests of nociception. Further, concomitant administration of one of the CCBs, diltiazem with morphine prevented the development of tolerance to the latter. However, combination of diltiazem with morphine, like morphine alone was found to be ineffective in morphine tolerant animals. Results, thus, show that CCBs produced an analgesic effect of their own in formalin-induced tonic pain and potentiated the analgesic activity of morphine. They also modulated opioid-induced tolerance.

    PMID: 12019755 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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    Patient drug information

    • Verapamil (Calan®, Calan® SR, Covera-HS®, ...)

      Verapamil is used to treat high blood pressure and to control angina (chest pain). The immediate-release tablets are also used alone or with other medications to prevent and treat irregular heartbeats. Verapamil is in a ...

    • Diltiazem (Cardizem®, Cardizem® CD, Cardizem® LA, ...)

      Diltiazem is used to treat high blood pressure and to control angina (chest pain). Diltiazem is in a class of medications called calcium-channel blockers. It works by relaxing the blood vessels so the heart does not have...

    • Nimodipine (Nimotop®)

      Nimodipine is used to treat symptoms resulting from a ruptured blood vessel in the brain (hemorrhage). It increases blood flow to injured brain tissue.