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Mohan. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2016;3:201-3 Neuroimmunology and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-8659.2016.37
Neuroinflammation

www.nnjournal.net
Editorial Open Access

Interleukin-1beta: a common thread

between inflammation, pain and opioid

tolerance

Shekher Mohan

Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Research, School of Pharmacy, Marshall University, One John Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25755, USA.
Correspondence to: Dr. Shekher Mohan, Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Research, School of Pharmacy, Marshall University, One John
Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25755, USA. E-mail: mohans@marshall.edu
How to cite this article: Mohan S. Interleukin-1beta: a common thread between inflammation, pain and opioid tolerance. Neuroimmunol
Neuroinflammation 2016;3:201-3.
Article history: Received: 27-07-2016 Accepted: 29-07-2016 Published: 26-09-2016

Dr. Shekher Mohan is currently an Assistant Professor of Neuropharmacology at Marshall University, School of
Pharmacy. He has served as the President for the North Central Florida Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience
from 2013-2014 while a NRSA-NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Florida. He is a member of the Society
for Neuroscience, International Neurotoxicology Association, American Heart Association and the International
Society for Neuroimmunology. His research is on the role of inflammation in addiction.

Chronic pain is a major health issue in our society that development of hypersensitivity to painful stimuli.
clearly impacts quality of life. Thirty to forty percent of OIH is well established in humans in different types
the population in the United States suffer from chronic of pain such as post-surgical pain, cancer pain and
pain and its total cost have been estimated at 560-635 musculoskeletal pain. [2-4] Hence, clinicians face a
billion dollars annually. Even if research progresses dilemma to decided to either treat or not treat chronic
[1]
to develop novel analgesics, opioids remain the gold pain with opioids which the knowledge of the patient
standard to treat pain. However, opioid treatment is developing pain hypersensitivity that may develop
associated with several adverse side effects including into opioid dependence. OIH is not yet completely
analgesic tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia understood and different mechanisms have been
(OIH). OIH is of major importance and the use of identified for this adaptive process to occur following
morphine continues to increase. Analgesia tolerance opioid administration. These included the sensitization
corresponds to a progressive decrease of analgesia of primary afferent neurons and enhanced release of
produced by a given dose of opioid upon chronic glutamate, hyperexcitability of second order neurons to
administration, resulting in the need to increase excitatory neurotransmitters. However, more recently
the dosage in order to maintain the initial analgesic glial cells have been shown to play an important role
effect. OIH usually clinically presents itself as the in OIH. Receptors expressed in both microglia and
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