O papel dos endocanabinoides no controle da dor

Abstract

Pain is a phenomenon that is essential to the survival of living things in general and not only is responsible to the neuronal processing of noxious stimuli, but it is also connected to the affected individual's emotional experiences, being constantly associated with suffering. When extended and/or intense, it becomes a major problem, managing to provoke physical and psychological disability, preventing the execution of daily chores. Therefore, pain causes psychosocial and economic problems to the affected population in its entirety. Current treatments are mainly performed with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids. However, drugs pertaining to these classes have side effects that make them contraindicated in several situations. The use of cannabinoids, a Cannabis sativa plant derived product, for medicinal purposes has aroused attention to the endocannabinoid system, which is composed by the CB1 and CB2 receptors, their agonists and the enzymes that metabolize them. The endocannabinoid system represents a potential therapeutic target for pain treatment; therefore the purpose of this work is to analyze the importance of the endocannabinoid system in pain modulation, through literature review