Imidazoline I2 receptors as targets for the treatment of pain

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Chronic pain is a global health care challenge and is poorly controlled by existing therapeutic strategies. This medical reality urges the development of safer and more effective analgesics. One approach is to identify novel analgesic targets. Our recent studies have suggested imidazoline I2 receptors as a novel drug target for acute nociception, although its role in chronic pain is less clear. As the etiology of many chronic pain conditions is multifaceted, combination therapy may be particularly effective against chronic pain by integrating multiple analgesic mechanisms of action. Although opioids are the most effective analgesics, their use is limited by concerns about abuse and the development of tolerance and dependence during chronic administration. Thus, combining opioids with other analgesics such as I2 receptor agonists may achieve better analgesic effects while decreasing some adverse effects of opioids. Building on exciting preliminary findings, studies described in this application will examine the antinociceptive and unwanted (tolerance and abuse liability) effects of I2 receptor agonists and test the feasibility of combining morphine and I2 receptor agonists against chronic pain. Mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia measures will be used to characterize the antinociceptive effects of I2 receptor agonists and morphine, alone or in combination, in models of complete Freund's adjuvant-induced inflammatory pain and chronic constriction injury-induced neuropathic pain (Aim I). Repeated treatment with I2 receptor agonists alone or combined with morphine will be performed to investigate the development of antinociceptive tolerance using the same procedures (Aim II). An intravenous self-administration procedure will be used to assess the reinforcing effects of I2 receptor agonists alone and how I2 receptor agonists modify the reinforcing effects of morphine (Aim III). Collectively, these experiments address two related and highly significant questions: (1) Do I2 receptor agonists represent a novel class of effective and safe analgesics for chronic pain and (2) Does the combination of I2 receptor agonists with morphine increase pain relief without increasing, or possibly decreasing, the abuse liability and development of tolerance.