NMDA Antagonists as Potential Analgesic Drugs

There is now considerable preclinical evidence that glutamate acting via the NMDA receptor is involved in the transmission of nociceptive information and in the triggering mechanisms for hyperalgesia and allodynia. This evidence allows rational development of a new class of analgesic drugs that act as antagonists of the NMDA receptor, supported by emerging evidence with existing excitatory amino acid antagonists. L

Pharmacology and electrophysiology of excitatory amino acid receptors.- Distribution of NMDA receptors in brain and spinal cord.- Spinal nociceptive processing: NMDA receptors and modulation by neuropeptides.- The NMDA receptor, pain and central sensitization.- Some pharmacological aspects of NMDA-mediated nociceptive transmission in the rat spinal cord as revealed by c-fos immunocytochemistry.- Interaction of NMDA and other neurotransmitter receptor systems in modulation of nociception.- Behavioural studies on the potential of NMDA receptor antagonists as analgesics.- Clinically available glutamate receptor antagonists in neuropathic pain states.- Future prospects for improved analgesic therapy.