Postoperative Pain Drug Discovery Service

Creative Biolabs has years of experience and cutting-edge technologies to provide a variety of services in the field of life science to customers worldwide. With the development of neuroscience and the increasing demand for drug discovery and development, we integrate global resources to provide customized one-stop solutions to facilitate the translation of results from basic science studies of postoperative pain to further preclinical studies, which might contribute to clinical and commercial applications.

Background of Postoperative Pain

There are hundreds of millions of people worldwide who undergo surgical operations each year. Effective postoperative management of patients is able to alleviate pain, reduce suffering, facilitate healing and recovery, and also prevent complications. However, postoperative management after surgery is still suboptimal to date. Patients suffer from acute or chronic postoperative pain after surgery, which not only results from inflammation alone but also because of the isolated impairment of nerves and neural tissues. The pathogenesis of postoperative pain may result from both peripheral and central sensitization as well as alterations in neuroplasticity.

Mechanism Studies of Postoperative Pain

Postoperative pain is related to the spinal sensitization induced and maintained by increased phosphorylation of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) receptors. The AMPA subunit glutamate receptor 1 (GluR1) interacts with the regulatory protein stargazin and is translocated to the neuronal membrane. The trafficking of Ca²⁺-permeable AMPA receptors in the postsynaptic density is increased, hence facilitating spinal nociceptive transmission. In addition, postoperative pain is related to GABA neurotransmission within the thalamus, peripheral sensitization, as well as the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis-induiced hypersensitivities.

Fig.1 Postoperative pain is associated with increased trafficking of the GluR1 subunit of AMPA-receptors by phosphorylation of Ser-831. (Pogatzki-Zahn, 2017)

Postoperative Pain Solutions at Creative Biolabs

Understanding the basic mechanisms of postoperative pain allows researchers to identify effective therapeutics to optimize the patient's outcome after surgery. Creative Biolabs is committed to offering one-stop solutions for postoperative pain studies, including a full range of in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo assays with cell culture and animal models as well as cutting-edge imaging and electrophysiology technologies, which allow researchers to utilize the neurophysiological assays with animal models to investigate the mechanisms of action in postoperative pain, and thus develop targeting therapeutics. We provide customized intracellular Ca²⁺ imaging service and GABA neurotransmission services based on the mechanisms to help researchers find potential targets for postoperative pain, such as spinal aminobutyric acid (GABA)-receptors, glutamate transporter (GluT), spinal cannabinoid receptors, and acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs), and screen promising drug candidates. The following scheme demonstrates detailed information about our platform and services for translational research and integrated research in postoperative pain.

If you have the intention to learn more about preclinical postoperative pain drug discovery and related studies, please don't hesitate to contact us for more details.

Reference

1. Pogatzki-Zahn, E. M.; et al. Postoperative pain-from mechanisms to treatment. Pain reports. 2017: 2(2).