the primary sensory neuron via the stimulation of the arginine/nitric oxide pathway. He characterized a phenomenon described as retrograde sensitization of the primary sensory neuron, which emphasizes the importance of the peripheral component of the inflammatory pain. His group made a relevant contribution to the role of bradykinin and of cytokines in the development of inflammatory hyperalgesia. He found that among the cytokines, interleukin 1b mediates the endogenous release of prostaglandins and IL-8 is responsible for the development of the sympathetic hyperalgesia. In this area he described an antagonist of IL-1 that is now being developed as a model for a new class of analgesics. Awards and accolades Ferreira's contributions to science are extensively recognized. In 1995, He received the National Order of Scientific Merit in the Great Cross level, and received several awards and medals, such as the TWAS Prize from the Third World Academy of Sciences (1990 and 1992), the Mexican Prize of Science and Technology (1999), the Rheimboldt-Hauptmann Prize of the University of São Paulo (2001) and the Péter Murányi Prize (2002). He was in the editorial board of several international journals, was foreign member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Ferreira was also a noted scientific leader in Brazil. He helped to found and is one of the editors-in-chief of the most influential international biomedical scientific journal, Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, was a member of the Brazilian National Academy of Sciences and of the Brazilian Council of Science and Technology. He was founder and past president of the Brazilian Society for Pharmacology and Therapeutics and of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC). Bibliography Ferreira, S. H. 1972. Prostaglandins, aspirin-like drugs and analgesia. Nature New Biology. vol. 240, p. 200-203. Ferreira, S. H. and Nakamura, M. 1979. II-Prostaglandins hyperalgesia: the peripheral analgesic activity of morphine, enkephalins and opioid antagonists. Prostaglandins. vol. 18, p. 191-200. Ferreira, S. H., et al. 1988. Interleukin-1b as a potent hyperalgesic agent antagonized by a tripeptide analogue. Nature. vol. 334, p. 698-700. Ferreira, S. H., et al. 1991. The molecular mechanism of action of peripheral morphine analgesia: stimulation of cGMP system via nitric oxide release. European Journal of Pharmacology. vol. 201, p. 121-122. Ferreira, S. H., et al. 1993. Bradykinin initiates cytokine mediated inflammatory hyperalgesia. Brazilian Journal of Pharmacological Sciences. vol. 110, p. 1227-1231. Ferreira, S. H. and Lorenzetti, B. B. 1994. Glutamate spinal retrograde sensitization