Opioids inhibit angiogenesis in a chorioallantoic membrane model

Background: angiogenesis is an important characteristic of cancer. switching from the avascular phase to the vascular phase is a necessary process for tumor growth. therefore,research in cancer treatment has focused on angiogenesis as a drug target. despite the widespread use of opioids to treat pain in patients with cancer,little is known about the effect of these drugs on vascular endothelium and angiogenesis. objectives: we aimed to investigate the efficacies of morphine,codeine,and tramadol in 3 different concentrations on angiogenesis in hens’ eggs. study design: this is a prospective,observational,controlled,in-vivo animal study. setting: single academic medical center. methods: this study was conducted on the chorioallantoic membrane (cam) of fertilized hens’ eggs. the efficacies of morphine,codeine,and tramadol in 3 different concentrations were evaluated on angiogenesis in a total of 165 hens’ eggs. results: statistically significant differences were found between drug-free agarose used as a negative control and concentrations of morphine of 10 μm and 1 μm,a concentration of tramadol of 10 μm,and concentrations of codeine of 10 μm and 1 μm. concentrations of morphine of 10 μm and 1 μm showed strong antiangiogenic effects. while codeine had strong antiangiogenic effects at high concentrations,at 0.1 μm it was shown to have weak antiangiogenic effects. however,tramadol at a concentration of 10 μm had only weak antiangiogenic effects. limitations: this is just a cam model study. conclusion: in this study,we tested the effects of 3 different opioid drugs on angiogenesis in 3 different concentrations,and we observed that morphine was a good anti-angiogenic agent,but tramadol and codeine only had anti-angiogenic effects at high doses. © 2017,american society of interventional pain physicians. all rights reserved.