Molecular architecture of endocannabinoid signaling at nociceptive synapses mediating analgesia.

ABSTRACT: Cannabinoid administration suppresses pain by acting at spinal, supraspinal and peripheral levels. Intrinsic analgesic pathways also exploit endocannabinoids; however, the underlying neurobiological substrates of endocannabinoid-mediated analgesia have remained largely unknown. Compelling evidence shows that, upon exposure to a painful environmental stressor, an endocannabinoid molecule called 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) is mobilized in the lumbar spinal cord in temporal correlation with stress-induced antinociception. We therefore characterized the precise molecular architecture of 2-AG signaling and its involvement in nociception in the rodent spinal cord. Nonradioactive in situ hybridization revealed that dorsal horn neurons widely expressed the mRNA of diacylglycerol lipase-alpha (DG

SUBMITTER: Nyilas R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2692098 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature