Immune Mechanisms of Pain and Analgesia (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology)

Drawing on a wide variety of modern and classical sources and multiple disciplines, this book presents hypothesizes about the relationship between human language and thought to brain specialization. The authors focus on aphasia-language disorder resulting from local brain damage and show that the clinical aspect represents not only loss of function of the damaged area, but also results from the interaction between damaged and intact areas of the brain. 1. Glial proinflammatory cytokines mediate exaggerated pain states: implications for clinical pain / Linda R. Watkins, Erin D. Milligan, and Steven F. Maier 2. Peripheral hyperalgesic cytokines / Fernando Q. Cunha and Sergio H. Ferreira 3. Cytokines and peripheral analgesia / Michael Schfer 4. Opioid peptides in immune cells / Eric M. Smith 5. Opioid receptors on peripheral sensory neurons / Christoph Stein 6. Morphological correlates of immune-mediated peripheral opioid analgesia / Shaaban A. Mousa 7. Functional evidence of pain control by the immune system / Halina Machelska 8. Opioid receptor expression and intracellular signaling by cells involved in host defense and immunity / Burt M. Sharp 9. Experimental evidence for immunomodulatory effects of opioids / Paola Sacerdote, Elena Limiroli and Leda Gaspani 10. The immune-suppressive effects of pain / Gayle G. Page 11. Invertebrate opiate immune and neural signaling / George B. Stefano ... [et al.] 12. Anti-inflammatory effects of opioids / Judith S. Walker.

Immune Mechanisms of Pain and Analgesia is the first volume to discuss a new concept of immune-neural interplays leading to pain or analgesia. It argues the classical view that pain and its control are restricted to the nervous system, offering a comprehensive overview of the emerging area of immune mechanisms in pain and its control. It challenges the traditional view that pain sensation or suppression is attributed exclusively to the nervous system and presents a critical analysis of this new concept. The book is written by an internationally recognized group of researchers and discusses complex and controversial issues such as cytokines and their pain-exacerbating but also analgesic effects, the production of opioids by immune cells, peripheral analgesic and anti-inflammatory actions of opioids, immunomodulatory effects of opiates, and immunosuppressive effects of pain.

This book offers a critical analysis of the concept: the contribution of immune mechanisms in pain and analgesia. It presents a comprehensive overview of this emerging and promising area. The first part constitutes an extensive discussion of diverse sensory effects of cytokines. This book provides evidence for exaggerated pain states produced by cytokins derived from glia within the central nervous system. It also examines the influence of opioids on the immune system.