MicroRNAs Are Involved in the Development of Morphine-Induced Analgesic Tolerance and Regulate Functionally Relevant Changes in Serpini1.

ABSTRACT: Long-term opioid treatment results in reduced therapeutic efficacy and in turn leads to an increase in the dose required to produce equivalent pain relief and alleviate break-through or insurmountable pain. Altered gene expression is a likely means for inducing long-term neuroadaptations responsible for tolerance. Studies conducted by our laboratory (Tapocik et al., 2009) revealed a network of gene expression changes occurring in canonical pathways involved in neuroplasticity, and uncovered miRNA processing as a potential mechanism. In particular, the mRNA coding the protein responsible for processing miRNAs, Dicer1, was positively correlated with the development of analgesic tolerance. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that miRNAs play a significant role in the d

SUBMITTER: Tapocik JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4805586 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature