Molecular Neuropharmacology

Chronic pain is an important clinical problem due to the low efficacy of conventional treatments and their numerous sideeffects. Chronic pain is also accompanied by emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety, and memory loss, whichnegatively influence the perception of pain, creating a viciouscircle that contributes to the deterioration of the patients’quality of life. Our main objective is to find new treatments thateffectively relieve chronic pain and the associated comorbidities by using pharmacological, molecular, andgenetic techniques.

• New strategies for the treatment of chronic pain:Identification of new compounds that effectively inhibitinflammatory, osteoarthritic, and/or neuropathic paininduced by nerve injury or chemotherapy and its underlyingmechanisms of action.

• New therapies for the emotional disorders associated withchronic pain: Investigation of the role played by different gaseous neurotransmitters in the modulation of the anxiety-and depressive-like behaviours and/or cognitive deficits accompanying persistent pain.

• Neuropharmacology of opioids and cannabinoids:Development of new strategies to potentiate the analgesiceffects of opioids and cannabinoids during chronic pain,minimizing the adverse effects of these drugs.

• Sex-related differences in chronic pain and mooddisorders: Evaluation of the impact of sex on pain sensitivityand tolerance, and on the effectiveness of treatments usedfor chronic pain and related mental diseases.

• New stratagems for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy:Identification of new approaches to inhibit oxidative stressand neuropathy two major complications of diabetes.

One of the objectives of our research is to identify newmedicinal gases that effectively inhibit neuropathic, osteoarthritic and nociplastic pain, as well as anxiodepressive-like behaviours and/or associated cognitive deficits. Other research interests are the enhancement of the analgesic effectsof opioids and cannabinoids, as well as the study of the impactof sex on the development of chronic pain and in the analgesicactions of new therapeutic targets.