Carlos Horacio Laino
National University of La Rioja, Argentina
Title: Innovation in the use of amitriptyline for pain treatment by combination with omega-3 fatty acids
Biography
Biography: Carlos Horacio Laino
Abstract
Combination therapy is often used to increase the clinical utility of analgesic agents. The co-administration of two compounds may achieve analgesia at doses lower than those required for either compound alone, leading to enhanced pain relief and a reduction in adverse effects. A tricyclic antidepressant, such as amitriptyline, is often used to treat many types of persistent pain, with their efficacy in this regard being well established. These conditions include diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, headache, arthritis, and chronic back pain. The disadvantages of using amitriptyline include side effects such as cardiovascular problems (e.g., hypertension, postural hypotension and arrhythmias), drowsiness, dry mouth, nausea, changes in body weight and constipation. The aim of this study was to examine in rats the antinociceptive effect of omega-3 fatty acids alone as well as in combined chronic treatments with amitriptyline (AMI) in the hot plate test. We found that compared to control, omega-3 fatty acids dose-dependently increased the latency time, indicative of an antinociceptive effect, with the co-administration of AMI (20 mg/kg/day) and omega-3 fatty acids (0.72 g/kg/day) revealing a higher antinociceptive efficacy than the individual treatments. The combination of omega-3 fatty acids with amitriptyline might produce better analgesia, thereby increasing the efficacy of pain management and reducing side effects through the use of a smaller dose of antidepressant.