A Review of the Plants of the Genus Phyllanthus: Their Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Therapeutic Potential -[218 refs.]. -(CAL-IXTO, J. B.; SANTOS, A. R. S.; CECHINEL FILHO, V.; YUNES, R. A.; Med.

Despite the progress that has occurred in recent years in the development of therapy, there is still a need for effective and potent analgesics, especially for the treatment of chronic pain. One of the most important analgesic drugs employed in clinical practice today continues to be the alkaloid morphine. In this review, emphasis will be given to the important contribution and the history of Papaver somniferum, Salix species, Capsicum species and Cannabis sativa in the development of new analgesics and their importance in the understanding of the complex pathways related to electrophysiological and molecular mechanisms associated with pain transmission. Recently discovered antinociceptive substances include alkaloids, terpenoids and flavonoid. Plant-derived substances have, and will certainly continue to have, a relevant place in the process of drug discovery, particularly in the development of new analgesic drugs.

Developmental risk factors, such as the exposure to stress or high levels of glucocorticoids (GCs), may contribute to the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. The immunomodulatory role of GCs and the immunological fingerprint found in animals prenatally exposed to GCs point towards an interplay between the immune and the nervous systems in the etiology of these disorders. Microglia are immune cells of the brain, responsive to GCs and morphologically altered in stress-related disorders. These cells are regulated by adenosine A receptors, which are also involved in the pathophysiology of anxiety. We now compare animal behavior and microglia morphology in males and females prenatally exposed to the GC dexamethasone. We report that prenatal exposure to dexamethasone is associated with a gender-specific remodeling of microglial cell processes in the prefrontal cortex: males show a hyper-ramification and increased length whereas females exhibit a decrease in the number and in the length of microglia processes. Microglial cells re-organization responded in a gender-specific manner to the chronic treatment with a selective adenosine A receptor antagonist, which was able to ameliorate microglial processes alterations and anxiety behavior in males, but not in females.

No abstract

Despite the progress that has occurred in recent years in the development of therapy, there is still a need for effective and potent analgesics, especially for the treatment of chronic pain. One of the most important analgesic drugs employed in clinical practice today continues to be the alkaloid morphine. In this review, emphasis will be given to the important contribution and the history of Papaver somniferum, Salix species, Capsicum species and Cannabis sativa in the development of new analgesics and their importance in the understanding of the complex pathways related to electrophysiological and molecular mechanisms associated with pain transmission. Recently discovered antinociceptive substances include alkaloids, terpenoids and flavonoid. Plant-derived substances have, and will certainly continue to have, a relevant place in the process of drug discovery, particularly in the development of new analgesic drugs.