CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Objectives Recent evidence associates omega-3 fatty acids (O3) with pain reduction.The aim of this work was to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of O3, eitheralone or in combination with morphine after acute and chronic administration inrats. As well, a new pharmaceutical mixture that allows the concomitant administrationof O3 and morphine as an oral solution was developed.Methods Animals were fed on a control or an experimental diet supplementedwith O3. They were subjected to the hot-plate test to assess analgesic effect andtolerance to the analgesic effect of morphine. The open-field test was carried outto determine if the differences in the response latency can be related to nonspecificsedative effects.Key findings O3 dietary supplementation increased the response latency comparedwith the control group. Acute treatment with morphine in these groupsresulted in an additive antinociceptive effect not related to locomotor activity.Chronic coadministration of morphine with O3 attenuated the development oftolerance. Oral administration of the new pharmaceutical mixture showed analgesicactivity with a subtherapeutic dose of morphine.Conclusion This finding suggests a role for O3 as adjuncts to opioids in paintherapy and might contribute to the reduction of the occurrence of morphineside-effects.