| | |
Summary: Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1997
metabolic pathway. Not only will there
be a decrease in the pain-producing
prostaglandins(byinhibitionofcyclooxyge-
nase),buttherewillbeincreasedproduction
of pain-relieving lipoxygenase metabolites,
whichareactivatedbyopioids.
Vaughan et al. used brain slices contain-
ing the periaqueductal grey (PAG) -- a cen-
tralsiteinthemodulationofpainpathways4
.
OneofthemaineffectsofopioidsinthePAG
(and the measure used in this study) is the
presynaptic inhibition of GABA ( -amino-
butyric acid)-mediated synaptic currents5
.
Although opioid-mediated presynaptic
inhibition, particularly from GABA-releas-
ing terminals, is common in the central
nervous system, there is no consensus on the
|
