Elsevier

Neurotherapeutics

Volume 6, Issue 4, October 2009, Pages 713-737
Neurotherapeutics

Transmitter and receptor manipulation
Cannabinoids as Pharmacotherapies for Neuropathic Pain: From the Bench to the Bedside

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurt.2009.08.002Get rights and content
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Summary

Neuropathic pain is a debilitating form of chronic pain resulting from nerve injury, disease states, or toxic insults. Neuropathic pain is often refractory to conventional pharmacotherapies, necessitating validation of novel analgesics. Cannabinoids, drugs that share the same target as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, have the potential to address this unmet need. Here, we review studies evaluating cannabinoids for neuropathic pain management in the clinical and preclinical literature. Neuropathic pain associated with nerve injury, diabetes, chemotherapeutic treatment, human immunodeficiency virus, multiple sclerosis, and herpes zoster infection is considered. In animals, cannabinoids attenuate neuropathic nociception produced by traumatic nerve injury, disease, and toxic insults. Effects of mixed cannabinoid CB1/CB2 agonists, CB2 selective agonists, and modulators of the endocannabinoid system (i.e., inhibitors of transport or degradation) are compared. Effects of genetic disruption of cannabinoid receptors or enzymes controlling endocannabinoid degradation on neuropathic nociception are described. Specific forms of allodynia and hyperalgesia modulated by cannabinoids are also considered. In humans, effects of smoked marijuana, synthetic Δ9-THC analogs (e.g., Marinol, Cesamet) and medicinal cannabis preparations containing both Δ9-THC and cannabidiol (e.g., Sativex, Cannador) in neuropathic pain states are reviewed. Clinical studies largely affirm that neuropathic pain patients derive benefits from cannabinoid treatment. Subjective (i.e., rating scales) and objective (i.e., stimulus-evoked) measures of pain and quality of life are considered. Finally, limitations of cannabinoid pharmacotherapies are discussed together with directions for future research.

Key Words

Endocannabinoid
marijuana
neuropathy
multiple sclerosis
chemotherapy
diabetes

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