NEUROLOGICAL BASIS OF PAIN--ROLE OF CANNABINOIDS

疼痛的神经学基础和疼痛背后的神经回路 感知和疼痛抑制仍然是 神经学家。在过去的25年里，许多研究都集中在 大脑中调节疼痛敏感性的机制，特别是那些 与神经递质和神经调节剂有关的机制 控制疼痛。这一应用解决了内源的可能性 大麻素受体的配体在神经细胞中起着重要作用。 调节疼痛敏感度的回路。这其中的分子基础 假说是一种G蛋白偶联大麻素的发现和克隆 受体及其内源性配体的鉴定 阿南达胺。因为这类药物会产生强烈的抑制作用 在动物的疼痛反应中，出现内源性的可能性 对应物在抑制疼痛的神经机制中发挥作用。通过 描述大麻素的功能作用，更好地理解 疼痛和疼痛抑制的神经基础就实现了。 拟议的实验解决了内源性的可能性 大麻素可能在疼痛的神经学基础上发挥作用 大黄素类化合物对参与疼痛的神经系统的影响 正在处理。为了评估这些对大脑疼痛通路的作用，一位 大麻素对痛觉诱发c-受体表达影响的研究 提出了脊髓FOS样免疫反应的概念。在一条平行线上 研究，检查大麻素对放电的影响 丘脑和脊髓中的神经元被提出。这些实验 提供了一种方法来构建内源作用的理论模型 特定大脑回路中的大麻类物质可以改变疼痛传递。 这些研究可能具有临床意义，因为它们可能提供 用于评估大麻素作为疼痛药物疗法的疗效。

The neurological basis of pain and the neural circuits that underlie pain perception and pain inhibition remain fundamental problems for neuroscientists. Much research in the past 25 years has focused on mechanisms in the brain that modulate pain sensitivity, especially those mechanisms related to the neurotransmitters and neuromodulators that control pain. This application addresses the possibility that endogenous ligands for the cannabinoid receptor play a significant role within neural circuits that modulate of pain sensitivity. The molecular basis for this hypothesis is the discovery and cloning of a G-protein coupled cannabinoid receptor and the identification of a putative endogenous ligand called anandamide. Because drugs of this class produce powerful inhibition of pain responses in animals, the possibility arises that the endogenous counterpart play a role in the neuronal mechanisms of pain inhibition. By delineating the functional role of cannabinoids, a better understanding of the neural basis of pain and pain inhibition would be achieved. The proposed experiments address the possibility that endogenous cannabinoid may play a role in the neurological basis of pain by examining the effects of cannbinoids on neural systems that are involved in pain processing. To assess these actions on pain pathways in the brain, an examination of the effects of cannabinoids on pain-evoked expression of c- fos like immunoreactivity i spinal cord is proposed. In a parallel line of research, an examination of the effects of cannabinoids on the firing of neurons in the thalamus and spinal cord is proposed. These experiments provide a means to build a theoretical model of the actions of endogenous cannabinoids within specific brain circuits that modify pain transmission. The studies may have clinical significance because they may provide a basis for estimating the efficacy of cannabinoids as a pharmacotherapy for pain.