Pharmacotherapy of cancer pain in dogs and cats suffering from cancer

Pain is an important symptom that accompanies cancer disease. Cancer pain is a chronic pain of medium to strong intensity, and it usually seriously impairs the quality of life of the cancer patients. In dogs and cats, the management of cancer pain includes drugs from different pharmacological groups. They are non-opioid and opioid analgesics, NMDA antagonists, anticonvulsant drugs, tricyclic antidepressants and steroids. Some of them are registered for use in veterinary medicine, and some are drugs for use in human medicine.

Prenatal diagnosis of lissencephaly: A case report

Introduction. Lissencephaly (“smooth brain”) forms a major group of brain malformations due to abnormal neuronal migration. It can cause severe intellectual and motor disability and epilepsy in children. The prenatal diagnosis of this malformation is rare. Case report. We presented a case of the prenatal diagnosis of lissencephaly. A 30-year old pregnant woman was reffered to the hospital at the week 35 of gestation for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after an ultrasound examination demonstrated fetal cerebral ventriculomegaly. Fetal MRI of the brain showed “smooth”, agyrya cortex. The female infant was born at term with birth weight of 2,500 g and Apgar score 8, showing global developmental delay. Postnatal ultrasound and MRI confirmed classical lissencephaly. She is now 8 years old and has spastic quadriparesis, mental retardation and epilepsy. Conclusion. Confirmation of the ultrasound diagnosis with MRI is desirable for the prenatal diagnosis of lissencephaly

Učešće L-arginin-NO sistema u analgetičkom efektu fluniksin meglumina kod pacova

This study investigated whether the L-arginine-NO system participates in the analgesic effect of flunixin meglumine in the rat. Hyperalgesia was induced by intraplantar (i.pl.) administration of carrageenan (500 μg) into the rat's hind paw. Electronic von Frey apparatus was used to determine paw withdrawal threshold induced by pressure as the painful stimulus, measured in grams (g). Flunixin meglumine (FM; 0.09-0.1 mg/kg; s.c.) and NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 10 mg/kg; i.p.), given separately as a pre-treatment, i.e. 15 min before i.pl. injection of carrageenan, produced a significant antinociception. When FM (0.09 mg/kg) and a sub-effective dose of L-NAME (5 mg/kg) were co-administered, the antinociceptive effect was significantly increased in comparison with the effect of FM alone. L-arginine (L-ARG;10 mg/kg; i.p.) itself did not produce significant effect on carrageenan-induced hyperalgesia, but significantly reduced the antinociceptive effects of both FM and FM + L-NAME combination. The inhibition of the production of NO might be involved in the mechanism of the analgesic effect of FM.Ova studija ispituje da li L-arginin-NO sistem učestvuju u analgetskom dejstvu fluniksin meglumina kod pacova. Hiperalgezija je izazvana intraplantarnom (i.pl.) aplikacijom karagenina (500 μg) u zadnju šapu pacova. Elektronski von Frey aparat se koristi za određivanje praga osetljivosti šape izazvane pritiskom kao bolnim stimulusom, i meri se u gramima (g). Fluniksin meglumin (FM; 0,09-0,1 mg/kg, s.c.) i NG-nitro-L-arginin metil estar (L-NAME; 10 mg/kg, i.p.), dati odvojeno u pretretmanu, tj. 15 min pre i.pl. aplikacije karagenina, prouzrokuju značajnu antinocicepciju. Kada se FM (0,09 mg/ kg) i L-NAME u sub-efektivnoj dozi (5 mg/kg) primene zajedno, antinociceptivni efekat se značajno povećava u odnosu na efekat primene samog FM. L-arginin (10 mg/ kg; i.p.) sam ne deluje na hiperalgeziju izazvanu karageninom, ali značajno smanjuje antinociceptivno dejstvo FM i kombinacije FM + L-NAME. Inhibicija produkcije NO-a može biti uključena u mehanizam analgetičkog efekta FM