Delta opioid receptor activation modulates affective pain and modality-specific pain hypersensitivity associated with chronic neuropathic pain.

ABSTRACT: Delta opioid receptor (DOR) agonists alleviate nociceptive behaviors in various chronic pain models, including neuropathic pain, while having minimal effect on sensory thresholds in the absence of injury. The mechanisms underlying nerve injury-induced enhancement of DOR function are unclear. We used a peripheral nerve injury (PNI) model of neuropathic pain to assess changes in the function and localization of DORs in mice and rats. Intrathecal administration of DOR agonists reversed mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia. The dose-dependent thermal antinociceptive effects of DOR agonists were shifted to the left in PNI rats. Administration of DOR agonists produced a conditioned place preference in PNI, but not in sham, animals, whereas the DOR antagonist naltrindole produced a place

SUBMITTER: Cahill CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8218601 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature