Anti‐nociceptive responses produced by human putative counterpart of nocistatin

b‐nocistatin is a heptadecapeptide produced from bovine prepronociceptin and blocks the induction of hyperalgesia and touch‐evoked pain (allodynia) by intrathecal administration of nociceptin or prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Human prepronociceptin may generate a 30‐amino acid peptide different in length from b‐nocistatin. Here, we examine whether the human putative counterpart of nocistatin (h‐nocistatin) possessed the same biological activities as b‐nocistatin. Simultaneous intrathecal injection of h‐nocistatin in mice blocked the induction of allodynia by nociceptin and PGE2 in a dose‐dependent manner with ID50 values of 329 pg kg−1 and 16.6 ng kg−1, respectively. h‐nocistatin was about 10 times less potent than b‐nocistatin. h‐nocistatin also attenuated the nociceptin‐ and PGE2‐induced hyperalgesia. These results demonstrate that h‐nocistatin is biologically active and may be involved in the processing of pain at the spinal level in humans. British Journal of Pharmacology (1998) 124, 1016–1018; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0701995