El receptor sigma-1una diana farmacológica que modula las interacciones neuroinmunitarias y neurogliales durante el dolor crónico
- M. Carmen Ruiz Cantero 1
- Rafael González Cano 1
- Miguel A. Tejada 1
- Inmaculada Bravo-Caparrós 1
- Miriam Santos Caballero 1
- Francisco R. Nieto 1
- Enrique J. Cobos 1
- 1 Departamento de Farmacología, Centro de Investigación Biomédica e Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Granada, Granada, España
ISSN: 1698-4277
Year of publication: 2020
Volume: 18
Issue: 3
Pages: 173-186
Type: Article
More publications in: Actualidad en farmacología y terapéutica
Abstract
Immune and glial cells play a pivotal role in chronic pain. Therefore, it is possible that it would be necessary to pharmacologically modulate not only neurotransmission from an exclusively neuronal perspective for adequate pain management, but also the complex interactions between neurons and other cell types. In this article we review the current scientific evidence on the modulatory effects of the sigma-1 receptors on the communication between the immune and nervous systems during inflammation, as well as the influence of this receptor on peripheral and central neuroinflammation in experimental models of pathological pain. Sigma-1 receptor inhibition increases peripheral opioid analgesia from immune cells during painful inflammation, maximizing the analgesic potential of peripheral leukocytes, and decreases peripheral (macrophage infiltration into the dorsal root ganglion) and central (activation and proliferation of microglia and astrocytes) neuroinflammation in several pain models. Therefore, sigma-1 antagonists might constitute a new class of analgesics with an unprecedented echanism of action.