Krystyna Cegielska, Helena E. Makulska-Nowak, Stanisław W. Gomułka

Wpływ przewlekłego podawania leków antydepresyjnych na aktywność układów opioidowych
2008-05-27

Influence of the chronic antidepressants on the activity of opioidergic systems. Antidepressant drugs are widely used in patients with chronic pain states, either alone or as adjuvant. They antinociceptive mechanism is not clear. The following factors most likely contribute to this effect: interfering with noradrenergic, serotoninergic, dopaminergic, GABA-ergic and opioidergic systems, adenosine reuptake inhibition, blocking of the NMDA receptor and affecting of ion currents. Recent results suggest that antidepressant drugs affect directly and indirectly on the opioidergic systems and chronic treatments with various of them have been found: to change enkephalin levels in numerous brain regions and to induced adaptations in the density of and opioid receptors in brain However, further studies are required for understanding the exact role of opioidergic systems in the antinociception induced by antidepressant drugs.