| Budget Amount *help |
¥18,590,000 (Direct Cost: ¥14,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,290,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥8,450,000 (Direct Cost: ¥6,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,950,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Brainstem-spinal descending noradrenaline (NA) and serotonin (5-HT) systems suppress nociceptive signals from primary afferent neurons to the spinal dorsal horn. These inhibitory systems may play an important role in mechanisms of analgesic action of several drugs such as opioids and antidepressants that are frequently used for management of neuropathic pain. Several lines of evidence suggest that function of the descending inhibitory systems changes dynamically after nerve injury. In this reserch, we demonstrated followings. First, activation of spinal α2-adrenoceptors releases acetylcholine after nerve injury, which results in increasing efficacy of analgesia of antidepressants in neuropathic pain. Second, opioids including morphine activate descending serotonergic neurons and increase 5-HT in the spinal cord. The increased 5-HT facilitate neuropathic pain via spinal 5-HT3 receptors. Therefore, efficacy of opioids for neuropathic pain is less than that for acute pain.
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