Chloroquine-induced scratching is mediated by NO/cGMP pathway in mice

Scratching behaviors were recorded by a camera after intradermal (ID) injection of CQ in the shaved rostral back of the mice. The results obtained show that CQ elicited scratching in a dose-dependent manner with a peak effective dose of 400 μg/site. Injection of non-specific NOS inhibitor, N-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester or neuronal NOS selective inhibitor and 7-nitroindazole, reduced CQ-induced scratching significantly. On the other hand, administration of aminoguanidine as inducible NOS inhibitor has no inhibitory effect on this behavior. Also, injection of l-arginine as a precursor of NO significantly increased this response. Conversely, accumulation of cGMP by sildenafil as a selective phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, potentiated the scratching behavior by CQ. This study therefore shows that CQ-induced scratching behavior is mediated by the NO/cGMP pathway.