Erasure of a Spinal Memory Trace of Pain by a Brief, High-Dose Opioid Administration

Abstract

Long-Lasting Pain Killers Opioids are among the most widely used and extensively studied drugs in the world. A continuous application of relatively low opioid doses is thought to be necessary to maintain synaptic depression in pain pathways. Drdla-Schutting et al. (p. 235 ) found that a single opioid application could produce lasting reversal of synaptic long-term potentiation in pain pathways. Chronic pain is often associated with synaptic potentiation in nociceptive pathways. A brief, high-dose application of opioids depotentiated long-term potentiation in spinal pain pathways. The same dose also reversed hyperalgesia in behaving animals. Thus, opioids not only attenuate pain but also may eradicate a significant cause for chronic pain.