Monoterpenoids: The Next Frontier in the Treatment of Chronic Pain?

Abstract

Ointments and lotions from natural extracts have a long tradition of being used in folk medicines against pain conditions. Monoterpenoids are among the major constituents of several natural topical remedies. The field of chronic pain is one of the most investigated for new active molecular entities. This review will discuss several molecular mechanisms against which monoterpenoids have been proven to be good candidates for the topical treatment of chronic pain.

Keywords

• monoterpenoids
• pain chemokine cycle
• interleukin-17
• topical treatment
• transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channels