Synthetic and Natural Drugs for Pain Treatment
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 2253
Special Issue Editor
Interests: pain; natural antioxidants; synthetic antioxidants; mitochondria; pain biomarker; oxidative stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Chronic pain remains a major challenge in medicine; it is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, limiting productivity and diminishing quality of life. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the most frequently used treatments for the management of acute pain of mild to moderate intensity, but they are often not suitable for the treatment of chronic conditions due to their associated side effects. Even opioid analgesics, such as morphine, which are the mainstay in the management of acute and chronic pain, face limitations in clinical utility due to the development of analgesic tolerance and pain hypersensitivity, also known as morphine-induced hyperalgesia. Numerous studies have observed that mitochondrial dysfunction plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of pain of different etiologies. Excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), caused by the overproduction of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide following prolonged exposure to biochemical stress, alters the mitochondrial genome and proteome.
The use of natural or synthetic antioxidants represents a strategy for managing chronic pain associated with oxidative stress. Antioxidants can prevent cellular damage caused by excessive ROS, thereby reducing the perception of pain.
This Special Issue aims to identify molecular mechanisms involved in the maintenance and amplification of pain of various etiologies to develop more targeted and personalized treatments for pain patients.
Dr. Sara Ilari
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- oxidative stress
- natural drugs
- synthetic drugs
- pain
- biomarkers
- mitochondria
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