There is an urgent need to find better drugs to treat pain. Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are not effective in all types of pain and their use is limited by side effects, including gastric ulcers and cardiovascular complications. Among the side effects of opioids (e.g. morphine, codeine, nalorphine) are respiratory depressioin, vomiting, constipation and hypotension. During the last decade brain sodium channels were found to be involved in the mediation of pain and are likely to be useful targets for novel analgesic drugs. In the videointerview with Dr. Greg Rose (see below) Dr. Stephen G. Waxman, Professor and Chairman of Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine describes potential value of selective sodium channel antagonists as analgesics and his research in this area.
Keywords: NSAIDs, pain, modulation of pain, pain sensation, analgesics, sodium channels, erythromelalgia,
PEPD, familial rectal pain, neuropathic pain, phantom pain, sodium channel subtypes, NaV1.7, NaV1.8, NaV1.3, sodium channel antagonists.
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