How do you define addiction?
Monthly Archives: August 2007
Purines, ATP, and pain
We have already published several articles on purine receptors but they continue to gain prominence.
Appreciating Comments
Just so you know, we really appreciate any comments. Unfortunately, the spammers have nearly destroyed the comments section.
More on Calcium and Pain
For this article, the word “Calcium” will be understood to mean the Ca2+ ion. This is soluble calcium, as opposed to the insoluble calcium in bones. Also, for brevity’s sake, neuroinflammation and hyperacidity will be used interchangeably, although the real picture is actually more complicated than that.
Another Toxin with Analgesic Properties
Toxin from the cobra known as Naja naja atra has analgesic effects. Caveat: these studies are on nociceptive (ordinary) pain models.
Are Anticonvulsants worth the cost in central pain?
Some evidence seems to be mounting that some of the antieptieptic medications used for pain may have side effects on vision or cause tinnitus.
Tarantula toxin and pain
The bad guys are sometimes the good guys when nature makes them so. There had to be some reason for those hairy little creatures, the tarantulas, to be on Earth. Even the TRPV-1 receptor has been rehabilitated slightly by the discovery that it plays a vital role in preventing sepsis when humans are exposed to endotoxins (see Clark in current edition of FASEB).
Sunitinib for Pain?
A drug used for renal cell cancer turns out to block the multiple receptor tyrosine kinases prevalent in many cancer cells.
Pain and Gastrin Releasing Peptide Receptors
Gastrin has traditionally been associated with the stomach, but like intestinal vasoactive peptide now takes its place as a mediator of pain (itch).
Possible new class of drugs for central pain
A new drug, known as Q5, is generating some interesting data.