Resumen de Participation of the endogenous opioid and cannabinoid systems in neuropathic pain
Abstract This work is focused in the study of the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain, particularly in the role of the endogenous opioid and cannabinoid systems. Neuropathic pain is a chronic illness with a high prevalence in the population and is characterized by the presence of spontaneous pain and abnormal stimulus-evoked pain responses, among other symptoms. It is a clinical pain manifestation that has shown to be poorly treated with the available pharmacological treatment. Even with the existence of many therapeutic approaches, there is not an adequate effective treatment for palliating all symptoms of neuropathic pain. This situation leads us to study the specific involvement of the endogenous opioid and cannabinoid systems in the pathophysiology of the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. In the present study, we have evaluated the role of delta opioid receptor (DOR) in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nociceptive neurons, as well as the participation of cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) in the activated microglia at the spinal cord. The results show that DOR and CB2 may be pharmacological targets for the development of new drugs with analgesic activity, but devoid of the psychotropic side effects of traditional opioids and cannabinoid agonists.
