过刊浏览

A role for uninjured afferents in neuropathic pain

Richard A. Meyer^*, Matthias Ringkamp

Departments of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering and the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University,Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

摘要

Diseases and injuries to the nervous system can lead to a devastating chronic pain condition called neuropathic pain. Wereview changes that occur in the peripheral nervous system that may play a role in this disease. Common animal models for neuropathicpain involve an injury to one or more peripheral nerves. Following such an injury, the nerve fibers that have been injured exhibit manyabnormal properties including the development of spontaneous neural activity as well as a change in the expression of certain genes intheir cell body. Recent data indicate that adjacent, uninjured nerve fibers also exhibit significant changes. These changes are thought tobe driven by injury-induced alterations in the milieu surrounding the uninjured nerve and nerve terminals. Thus, alteration in neuralsignaling in both injured and uninjured neurons play a role in the development of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury.

关键词： nerve injury; hyperalgesia; unmyelinated afferents; myelinated afferents; nociceptors; neuropathy

A role for uninjured afferents in neuropathic pain

Richard A. Meyer^*, Matthias Ringkamp

Departments of Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering and the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University,Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

Abstract

Diseases and injuries to the nervous system can lead to a devastating chronic pain condition called neuropathic pain. Wereview changes that occur in the peripheral nervous system that may play a role in this disease. Common animal models for neuropathicpain involve an injury to one or more peripheral nerves. Following such an injury, the nerve fibers that have been injured exhibit manyabnormal properties including the development of spontaneous neural activity as well as a change in the expression of certain genes intheir cell body. Recent data indicate that adjacent, uninjured nerve fibers also exhibit significant changes. These changes are thought tobe driven by injury-induced alterations in the milieu surrounding the uninjured nerve and nerve terminals. Thus, alteration in neuralsignaling in both injured and uninjured neurons play a role in the development of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury.

Key words: nerve injury; hyperalgesia; unmyelinated afferents; myelinated afferents; nociceptors; neuropathy

收稿日期：　　录用日期：

通讯作者：Richard A. Meyer　　E-mail: rmeyer@jhmi.edu

引用本文：

Richard A. Meyer, Matthias Ringkamp. A role for uninjured afferents in neuropathic pain[J]. 生理学报 2008; 60 (5): 605-609.

Richard A. Meyer, Matthias Ringkamp. A role for uninjured afferents in neuropathic pain. Acta Physiol Sin 2008; 60 (5): 605-609 (in Chinese with English abstract).