Involvement of the endocannabinoid system in osteoarthritis pain

Chronic pain is a major clinical problem producing huge economic and social burdens. Currently, chronic pain treatment has limited efficacy and significant side effects. One of the reasons of this unmet clinical need is the insufficient knowledge of the exact mechanisms involved in the generation an...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: La Porta, Carmen
Tipo de documento: tese
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2015
País:España
Recursos:CBUC, CESCA
Repositório:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/398384
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/398384
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Osteoarthritis
Osteoartritis
Chronic pain
Dolor crónico
Endocannibonoid system
Sistema endocannabinoide
Memory
Memoria
Anxiety
Ansiedad
CB1 cannabinoid receptor
CB2 cannabinoid receptor
2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG)
616.8
Descrição
Resumo:Chronic pain is a major clinical problem producing huge economic and social burdens. Currently, chronic pain treatment has limited efficacy and significant side effects. One of the reasons of this unmet clinical need is the insufficient knowledge of the exact mechanisms involved in the generation and maintenance of chronic pain and pain-related comorbidities, such as affective and cognitive disorders that can negatively affect the life quality of patients. It is an important challenge to treat not only the nociceptive symptoms, but also the comorbidities accompanying chronic pain. In the present Thesis, we have validated different behavioral outcomes to evaluate the nociceptive, affective and cognitive alterations promoted by chronic pain in mice. Our work mainly focuses on a particular type of chronic pain that is the osteoarthritis pain. Pain is the principal symptom of osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease characterized by articular cartilage degradation. The endocannabinoid system has recently emerged as a new potential therapeutic target for osteoarthritis pain. The endocannabinoid system regulates a wide range of physiopathological processes including articular metabolism, pain, emotions and cognitive functions, and a therapeutic intervention on this system could offer the potential advantage to treat multiple aspects of this disease. We have used behavioral, genetic, pharmacological and biochemical approaches to study the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in different osteoarthritis pain-related alterations in mice, and explored the potential usefulness of the endocannabinoid system components as biomarkers for human osteoarthritis.