N-Acylethanolamine Acid Amidase Inhibition Potentiates Morphine Analgesia and Delays the Development of Tolerance
Laboratory studyOther animalsWith AM11095 (a brain-permeable NAAA inhibitor that raises the body's own palmitoylethanolamide) given with morphine; PEA itself was not given
This study tested palmitoylethanolamide together with AM11095 (a brain-permeable NAAA inhibitor that raises the body's own palmitoylethanolamide) given with morphine; PEA itself was not given. Its results cannot be assigned to palmitoylethanolamide alone. More combination studies.
- Design
- Laboratory study
- Subjects
- Rats; numbers not stated in the abstract
- Dose used in the study
- AM11095 at 3 to 30 mg/kg with morphine; route not stated in the abstract
- Duration
- Chronic morphine treatment; length not stated in the abstract
- What was measured
- Mechanical pain threshold; in vivo electrophysiology of locus coeruleus neurons in anaesthetised rats; spinal cord glial activation.
What the authors reported
The study found:
- AM11095 dose-dependently enhanced morphine's pain-relieving effect and delayed the development of tolerance to chronic morphine.
- It enhanced morphine's dampening of locus coeruleus responses to foot-shock and prevented loss of that effect with chronic use.
- These changes went with less glial activation in the spinal cord.
Limits of this study
A rat study; it cannot show effect in people. No palmitoylethanolamide was given; the inhibitor raised the body's own PEA. The authors declare no competing interests.
Source
PubMed 34553321 · doi:10.1007/s13311-021-01116-4
Entry checked against the abstract on PubMed on 2026-09-22. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.