痛敏素受体在疼痛调节中的作用

Role of nociceptin/orphanin FQ opioid peptide receptor in pain modulation

疼痛不仅是临床常见的症状,也是危害人类健康和生活质量的一类疾病。寻找高效低毒、低(无)成瘾性的镇痛药,一直是医药科学领域的难题和目标。痛敏素(NOP)受体是20世纪90年代中期发现的第4种阿片受体。研究显示其参与痛觉传导与调制,可能成为新型镇痛药研发的潜在靶标。本文从NOP受体的生物学特征、对疼痛的复杂调节作用,以及靶向NOP受体的新型镇痛药研究等方面,综述了NOP受体在疼痛调节中的作用,为进一步了解疼痛与镇痛机制、寻找理想的镇痛药提供参考。

Pain is not only a common syndrome in clinic, but also a disease harming people＇s health and quality of life. Dis- covery of potent and low-or non-addictive analgesic agent is a great challenge and our expectation. Nociceptin/orphanin FQ opioid pep- tide （NOP） receptor, the fourth member of the opioid receptor family, was discovered in 1994. Growing evidence has revealed that NOP receptor plays an important role in pain transduction and Inodulation and becomes a potential target for novel analgesics develop- ment. This review focuses on the progresses in exploring the biological characteristics of NOP receptor and its complex role in pain modulation, as well as the discovery of novel analgesic agents targeting NOP receptor, which provides reference for understanding the mechanisms of pain and analgesia and finding ideal analgesics.