Figure 2.

Analgo-miRNAs for surgical pain management. On the left, the current status of pain management (multimodal analgesia) for major surgery is displayed. On the right, a novel proposed concept of RNAi-based analgesia is depicted, which is currently being tested in the laboratory. miRNAs are single-stranded, noncoding RNA molecules that act as posttranscriptional inhibitors or regulators of the mRNA. miRNA therapies are in clinical trials for the treatment of some diseases. Here, we propose the administration of miRNAs perioperatively to provide pain relief. i.t. indicates intrathecal; i.v., intravenously; miRNA, microribonucleic acid; RNA, ribonucleic acid; RNAi, ribonucleic acid interference.