Tolerance effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs microinjected into central amygdala, periaqueductal grey, and nucleus raphe: Possible cellular mechanism

Pain is a sensation related to potential or actual damage in some tissue of the body. The mainstay of medical pain therapy remains drugs that have been around for decades, like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), or opiates. However, adverse effects of opiates, particularly tolerance, limit their clinical use. Several lines of investigations have shown that systemic (intraperitoneal) administration of NSAIDs induces antinociception with some effects of tolerance. In this review, we report that repeated microinjection of NSAIDs analgin, clodifen, ketorolac and xefocam into the central nucleus of amygdala, the midbrain periaqueductal grey matter and nucleus raphe magnus in the following 4 days result in progressively less antinociception compared to the saline control testing in the tail-flick reflex and hot plate latency tests. Hence, tolerance develops to these drugs and cross-tolerance to morphine in male rats. These findings strongly support the suggestion of endogenous opioid involvement in NSAIDs antinociception and tolerance in the descending pain-control system. Moreover, the periaqueductal grey-rostral ventro-medial part of medulla circuit should be viewed as a pain-modulation system. These data are important for human medicine. In particular, cross-tolerance between non-opioid and opioid analgesics should be important in the clinical setting.