Pain processing

Yaksh, TL (1999) Spinal systems and pain processing. Trends in Pharm. Sci. 20 329-337. 

Although I was shocked to see that kind of reaction in myself, it helped me to understand more deeply why the recognition of MCS is a slow and painful process. 

The endogenous opioid system (Mansour et al., 1995) is the most important component of the pain inhibitory system of the body. Opioids act at different levels in the pain pathway and their action effects different aspects of pain processing (Lipp, 1991 Yaksh, 1997). This results in ... 

Pain processing is inhibited at the spinal and supraspinal level. Spinal opioid receptors are located pre- and post... 

Serotonin is also involved in opioid effects on the transmission and processing of nociceptive information at a level rostral to the PAG. Borszcz (1999) and Borszcz and Streltsov (2000) have demonstrated that the antinociceptive effect of morphine administered into the PAG can be attenuated be serotonin antagonism in the central nucleus of the amygdala and the parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus, suggesting that serotonin is also involved in pain processing in higher brain centers. 

Activated K+ channels in the neuronal circuitry of pain processing areas may either directly or indirectly interfere with the transmission of nociceptive signals... 

Svensson C. I., Marsala M., Westerlund A., Calcutt N. A., Campana W. M., Freshwater J. D., Catalano R., Feng Y., Proffer A. A., Scott B., and Yaksh T. L. (2003b). Activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in spinal microglia is a critical link in inflammation-induced spinal pain processing. J. Neurochem. 86 1534-1544. 

Bernard, J. F., and Besson, J. M. (1990). The spino(trigemino)pontoamygdaloid pathway Electrophysiological evidence for an involvement in pain processes. J. Neurophysiol 63, 473-490. 

If results were correlated with effort, women chemists would have changed academia a lot more by now than has been the case. Although important legislation was passed in 1972 affecting education and employment, a law is only as strong as its enforcement, and fighting powerful institutions in court can be a slow, expensive, and painful process. Nevertheless some women chemists have been quite active in this area. Recall Sharon Johnson, who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT, was an assistant professor of biochemistry in the medical school at the University of Pittsburgh, and sued her employer... 

The genetic association of Kv7 channel mutations and neuronal hyper-excitability suggests that Kv7.x channels may also modulate the excitability of neurons involved in pain processing since many currently used anti-epileptic drugs which affect excitability are also used to treat pain. Kv7 channels are known to be expressed at multiple levels of pain pathways, including thalamic, spinal superficial dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglion neurons. Thus, small molecule openers of Kv7 channels may not only diminish the neuronal hyper-excitability associated with epilepsy, but may also be effective in treating pain conditions. 

The expression of TRPVl in supraspinal structures such as PAG, RVM, the LC, and thalamus suggests its involvement in descending and ascending supraspinal pain processing (Cristino et al., 2006 Maione et al., 2006 Mezey et al., 2000 Starowicz et al., 2008). Microinjection of capsaicin into the PAG increases the latency to... 

Liu EH, Nishiuchi Y, Kimura T, Tachibana S (2006) Supraspinal nodstatin and its amide derivative antagonize the hyperalgesic effects of nodceptin in mice. Neurosci Lett 397 59-63 Liu HX, Hokfelt T (2002) The participation of galanin in pain processing at the spinal level. Trends Pharmacol Sci 23 468-474... 

Zamfirova R, Bocheva A, Dobtinova Y, Todorov S (2007) Study on the antinociceptive action of Tyr-K-MIF-1, a peptide from the MIF family. Auton Autacoid Pharmacol 27 93-98 ZeUhofer HU (2005) The glycinergic control of spinal pain processing. Cell Mol Life Sd 62 2027-2035... 

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