Microglia regulation of neuropathic pain

• 作 者: Ru-RongJI;
• 机 构: Pain Research Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medica
• 出 处: 中国神经科学学会第四次会员代表大会暨第七届全国学术会议(The 7th Biennial Meeting and the
• 发表日期: 2007年期

　　Damage or dysfunction of the nervous system often causes neuropathic pain.Neuropathic pain is becoming a major health problem worldwide.Neuropathic pain occurs after diabetic neuropathy,viral infection,major surgeries,chemotherapy,spinal cord injury and trauma.Current treatment for neuropathic pain is very limited in part due to our limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying the induction and maintenance of neuuropathic pain.Although neuronal mechanisms of neuropathic pain have been intensively studied for last two decades,mounting evidences in last several years has suggested an important role of spinal glial cells in the development of neuropathic pain.Peripheral nerve injury,a condition known to produce persistent neuropathic pain,produces very robust changes in microglial cells in the spinal cord.For example,the expression of microglial marker (e.g.CD 11 b and Iba-1) is dramatically increased and microglial cells proliferate and show hypertrophy morphology.