Exp Neurol. 2012 Apr;234(2):253-4. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2012.01.009. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
This special issue of Experimental Neurology is devoted to the role of Microglia and Chronic Pain. Chronic pain affects 116 million people per year in the United States, which is more than heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined. Nervous system trauma and disease are principal contributors to the establishment of chronic pain in people and in animal models. Central nervous system (CNS) injury or tumor development, peripheral nerve injury, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and many other neurological disruptions can serve as the instigating pathophysiolgical conditions that lead to chronic pain. Once considered to function solely as the phagocytotic cells of the CNS, more recent work has demonstrated that persistent activation of the microglial population may contribute to continued dysfunction including chronic pain. In the invited articles for this special issue on Microglia and Chronic Pain, we present evidence for the role of persistent microglial activation in chronic pain after peripheral and central nervous system injury, as well as in diabetic pain, post-herpetic neuralgia pain and related diseases. Collectively, the body of work indicates the importance of understanding the roles of microglial cells in chronic pain which will lead to targeted treatment to attenuate or alleviate chronic neuropathic pain syndromes.
本实验神经病学特刊专门探讨小胶质细胞与慢性疼痛的关系。慢性疼痛每年影响美国 1.16 亿人，超过心脏病、癌症和糖尿病的总和。神经系统创伤和疾病是导致人类和动物模型慢性疼痛的主要原因。中枢神经系统 (CNS) 损伤或肿瘤发展、周围神经损伤、多发性硬化症、糖尿病和许多其他神经紊乱都可能成为导致慢性疼痛的病理生理条件。小胶质细胞曾被认为仅作为中枢神经系统的吞噬细胞发挥作用，但最近的研究表明，小胶质细胞的持续激活可能导致持续的功能障碍，包括慢性疼痛。在这个关于小胶质细胞和慢性疼痛的特刊的特邀文章中，我们提出了小胶质细胞持续激活在周围和中枢神经系统损伤后慢性疼痛、糖尿病性疼痛、带状疱疹后神经痛及相关疾病中的作用的证据。总的来说，这些工作表明了理解小胶质细胞在慢性疼痛中的作用的重要性，这将导致针对慢性神经病理性疼痛综合征的靶向治疗。
