of these bioactive lipids are unclear. However upon the initiation of inflammation most algogenic lipids reduce the activation thresholds of pain specific neurons to stimuli, while others such as PGE2 can directly be painful. Although the pro-nociceptive roles of bioactive lipids are well studied, the anti-nociceptive roles of have traditionally attracted much less attention. In the past decade however our ability to modulate the levels of anti-nociceptive lipid metabolite pathways increased significantly. Here we will discuss recent developments in the area of bioactive EFAs and nociception which we argue establish a solid role for natural EFAs in the mediation of pain. We will use the knowledge of other bioactive lipid mediators such as the endocannabinoids for a comparison where appropriate, though the EFAs are unique in multiple aspects compared to all other mediators in nociception. Overall the emerging findings on the anti-nociceptive roles of EFAs indicate that targeting these molecules could become an effective strategy to treat various painful conditions, including neuropathic pain.
