Dual enkephalinase inhibitor PL37 as a potential novel treatment of migraine: evidence from a rat model.

The dual enkephalinase inhibitor PL37, a small molecule that protects enkephalins from rapid degradation, has demonstrated analgesic properties in animal pain models and in early human clinical trials. This study tested the antimigraine potential of PL37 on cutaneous mechanical hypersensitivity affecting cephalic regions in migraineurs. Using behavioural testing and c-Fos immunoreactivity in male rats, we investigated the effects of single (oral or intravenous) and repeated oral administration of PL37 on changes in cutaneous mechanical sensitivity and sensitization of the trigeminocervical complex induced by repeated administration of the nitric oxide donor, isosorbide dinitrate.

Dual enkephalinase inhibitor PL265: a novel topical treatment to alleviate corneal pain and inflammation.

Ocular pain is a core symptom of inflammatory or traumatic disorders affecting the anterior segment. To date, the management of chronic ocular pain remains a therapeutic challenge in ophthalmology. The main endogenous opioids (enkephalins) play a key role in pain control but exhibit only transient analgesic effects due to their rapid degradation.

Inhibiting the breakdown of endogenous opioids and cannabinoids to alleviate pain.

Chronic pain remains unsatisfactorily treated, and few novel painkillers have reached the market in the past century. Increasing the levels of the main endogenous opioid peptides - enkephalins - by inhibiting their two inactivating ectopeptidases, neprilysin and aminopeptidase N, has analgesic effects in various models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Stemming from the same pharmacological concept, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitors have also been found to have analgesic effects in pain models by preventing the breakdown of endogenous cannabinoids.