Fletcher A. White

Loyola University of Chicago, USA

Abstract

[O15] Opiate-induced Hypernociception and Chemokine Receptors

Fletcher White¹ and Natalie Wilson²; ¹Departments of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, and Anesthesiology; ²Pharmacology, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Opiates, such as morphine, are typically employed to alleviate acute or chronic pain states. However, there are a myriad of side effects including constipation, nausea, respiratory depression, cough suppression, vomiting, sedation, addiction and tolerance. It has also been reported experimentally and clinically that exposure to opiate can elicit paradoxical pain (opiate-induced tactile hyperalgesia; OIH) in regions of the body unrelated to the initial pain complaint. Several mechanisms have been suggested to be responsible for OIH such as sensitization of peripheral nociceptors, enhanced production/release of glutamate and neuropeptides in the spinal cord, protein kinase C gamma-induced signaling, and/or enhanced descending facilitation of nociceptive pathways from the rostral ventromedial medulla; however signaling pathways known to lead to directly to OIH remain undiscovered. Recent publications from our laboratory and others have discovered a potentially important link to OIH that involves the chemokine (chemotactic cytokine), stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF1 also known as CXCL12) and its cognate receptor CXCR4.

Keywords: Opiate; Opiate-induced hyperalgesia

Biography

Fletcher A. White is an associate professor at the Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, and Director of Research in Anesthesiology. He obtained his M.S. (pathology) and Ph.D. (anatomy and neurobiology) at the Medical College of Ohio followed by postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis and Massachusetts General Hospital. His research group studies the sequence and nature of the neuroinflammatory events that govern neuron and non-neuronal communication in the sensory ganglia following injury. Many of these events may be critical for the discovery of new mechanisms and targets for chronic pain treatment.