INSILICO AND PHARMACOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO NOVEL THERAPEUTICS FOR NEUROPATHIC PAIN: A REVIEW OF FOCUS ON GLUTAMATERGIC AND CALCIUM CHANNEL PATHWAYS

Background: Neuropathic pain is a complicated clinical problem with maladaptive alterations in nociceptive pathways, affecting millions of people worldwide. Conventional painkiller medications do not be sufficient to treat pain; new treatment strategies involve particular molecular processes. Objective: The review discusses the present status of integrated computational and experimental models involving the discovery and testing of new therapeutic agents in the management of neuropathic pain through the activation of glutamatergic and calcium channel pathways. Methods: The literature search was performed as a full search in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases of 2015-2024 publications. Keywords were neuropathic pain, in silico drug design, glutamatergic pathways, calcium channels and pharmacological validation. Results: Recent developments in computational drug design have established many potential drugs that would inhibit NMDA receptors, AMPA receptors, and voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs). The combined insilico-experimental techniques have been shown to be successful at 15-25% in q.v.f.i.c.d.t., a lot more successful than the conventional high-throughput screening technologies. Conclusions: Computational modelling plus rigorous pharmacological validation is a potentially useful approach to developing drugs to treat neuropathic pain, but there is still work to do to translate promising preclinical findings into clinical success.