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Chapter category: Immunology

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Opioids

This chapter appears in the following book:

Immune Mechanisms of Pain and Analgesia

Edited by: Halina Machelska and Christoph Stein
ISBN: 0-306-47692-4
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Judith S. Walker


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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder with its primary manifestations in the joints. The etiology of RA remains obscure, no cure is yet available and sustained disease remission is rarely achieved. Opioid drugs are not currently used in the treatment of RA, partly because of their range of sideeffects and because their Anti-Inflammatory (as opposed to analgesic) actions have been largely unrecognized. Analgesic compounds with some central kagonist activity, such as pentazocine and butorphanol have been available clinically for a number of years for treatment of pain but they have not been utilized extensively due to their dysphoric side effects. The synthesis of peripherally selective k-opioid agonists has allowed the analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory effects of opioids in arthritis to be studied, while mitigating the problems of tolerance and central side effects. They are powerfully Anti-Inflammatory in a dosedependent, timedependent, stereoselective and antagonist reversible manner.1 This chapter examines the Anti-Inflammatory effects of k-Opioids , both centrally active and peripherally selective k-opioid agonists, with particular relevance to RA, and reports data on the mechanisms responsible for the anti-arthritic effects of k-Opioids in adjuvant arthritis.

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Additional chapters from this book:

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Opioids

Judith S. Walker

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder with its primary manifestations in the joints. The etiology of RA remains obscure, no cure is yet available and sustained ...

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The ImmuneSuppressive Effects of Pain

Gayle G. Page

The immune-suppressive effects of painful experiences have been studied in both humans and animals for many years. Experimental pain has been induced by such means as electric shock and sur...

Experimental Evidence for Immunomodulatory Effects of Opioids

Paola Sacerdote, Elena Limiroli and Leda Gaspani

In recent years the experimental and clinical research has made it clear that the immune system does not stand alone, but it is profoundly affected by other organ systems, especially the ce...

Opioid Receptor Expression and Intracellular Signaling by Cells Involved in Host Defense and Immunity

Burt M. Sharp

More than two decades ago, Joseph Wybran reported his original insights on the expression of different opioid receptor types by T-cell s. This was based on the differential effects that morphi...

Functional Evidence of Pain Control by the Immune System

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Pain can be effectively controlled by various endogenous mechanisms. Recent research has shown that these mechanisms are not restricted to the central nervous system. Intrinsic pain inhibition...

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Shaaban A. Mousa

Secent research has shown that effective inhibition of pain by endogenous mechanisms can be generated within peripheral tissue, outside the central nervous system. Studies using sensitive and ...

Opioid Receptors on Peripheral Sensory Neurons

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The interaction of immune cellderived opioid peptides with opioid receptors on peripheral terminals of primary afferent (sensory) neurons is one of the most extensively investigated immune mec...

Opioid Peptides in Immune Cells

Eric M. Smith

The roles of opiates and opioids (endogenous peptides with opiate activity) in the immune system have only recently begun to receive rigorous study. The purpose of this chapter is to cover a p...

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Primary sensory neurons (PSN) become sensitized during inflammation (hyperalgesia) and as a consequence the nociceptors are able to transduce innocuous stimuli into what is perce...

Glial Proinflammatory Cytokines Mediate Exaggerated Pain States: Implications for Clinical Pain

Linda R. Watkins, Erin D. Milligan and Steven F. Maier

When you hurt yourself, you become consciously aware of the pain because a chain of neurons carries the pain message from the injury to the spinal cord, and then from the spinal cor...


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