ABSTRACT
Chronic pain represents a major clinical issue which so far is still in shortage of selective and effective treatment. Multiple components are involved in the pain processing, including peripheral, spinal and supraspinal levels of the nervous system. The core to fight the pain problem effectively is to have a good understanding of nociceptive mechanism and the neurobiology of pain perception. Optogenetic technique allows selective activation of subpopulation neurons and provides possibility for better understanding of complex pathway and modulation mechanism in nervous system. Here we review the researches to date that used optogenetic tools for studying pain pathway, and we also provide a brief overview of some new development in optogenetic techniques that may have great potentials in pain research.
Subject(s)
Humans , Chronic Pain , Neurons , Optogenetics , PainABSTRACT
Transient receptor potential(TRP) superfamily includes seven subfamilies and TRP channels are regulated by a wide variety of physical and chemical factors. Recently, several members of the TRP channel family have been reported to be regulated by phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate(PIP2). The regulation is complex and it can be activation or inhibition, involving multiple mechanisms and factors. This review summarizes the PIP2 regulation of several TRP channels of different superfamilies and the related pathophysiological significance.