Agents and actions. Supplements
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Agents Actions Suppl. · Jan 1993
ReviewSubstance P and inflammatory pain: potential of substance P antagonists as analgesics.
Substance P has been implicated in peripheral inflammatory responses and recent evidence from animal models indicates that substance P (NK-1 receptor) antagonists are effective in blocking peripheral inflammatory responses as well as nociception (pain) associated with inflammation. Evidence implicating substance P in nociception is reviewed in this survey, along with evidence on the effects of NK-1 receptor antagonists and with some comments on the usefulness of such antagonists as analgesics.
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Inflammatory pain is mediated from the periphery by a specialized subgroup of nerve fibers, the nociceptors. The nociceptive nerve endings undergo sensitization and excitation when stimulated with inflammatory agents. ⋯ Since nociceptive nerve endings are too small to be approached directly with the methods of intracellular electrophysiology, one has to extrapolate to the membrane channels and intracellular processes mediating nociceptor sensitization from studies on the perikarya of sensory ganglion cells. Sustained inflammation induces profound plastic changes in peripheral and central neurones leading to an altered excitability.