Delta opioid receptor agonists have been proposed as a new generation of opioids analgesics. They have been implicated in antinociception in the spinal cord in acute and chronic pain models. Yet the precise means by which this role is achieved is still unclear. The first aim of this study was to determine whether delta opioid receptors could modulate the action of pro-nociceptive transmitters in the spinal cord using reflex studies. The second aim of this study was to examine the effect of a delta-1 opioid receptor agonist on excitatory amino acid evoked responses and synaptically elicited responses of rat single spinal dorsal horn neurons to natural stimulation of peripheral receptive fields in electrophysiological experiments. / Our findings in the first part of the study indicate that the mechanism of antinociception of delta opioids at the spinal level may include a selective blockade of the action of some of pro-nociceptive transmitters. / In the second part of the study, the preferential inhibition of DPDPE on the after discharge induced by noxious stimulation and NMDA induced excitation suggests that delta opioid receptor agonists may have the potential to treat chronic pain. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.31557 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Wang, Jing, 1974 April 3- |
| Contributors | Henry, J. L. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Physiology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001804655, proquestno: MQ70526, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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