Woolf C J, Doubell T P
Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1994 Aug;4(4):525-34. doi: 10.1016/0959-4388(94)90053-1.
Chronic pain is characterized by abnormal sensitivity, which is due to the generation of pain in response to the activation of the low-threshold mechanoreceptive A beta fibres that normally generate innocuous sensations. Three different processes in the spinal cord can account for this dramatic alteration in sensory processing in the somatosensory system: increased excitability, decreased inhibition and structural reorganization. All have been shown to occur and each may contribute separately or together to the wide range of chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain disorders. The unravelling of the cellular mechanisms involved both offers the potential for developing novel therapeutic strategies, which reduce functional synaptic plasticity and prevent central atrophic and regenerative responses in injured neurones, and illustrates the capacity of the adult nervous system for maladaptive modification.
慢性疼痛的特征是异常敏感，这是由于低阈值机械感受性Aβ纤维被激活时产生了疼痛，而这些纤维通常产生的是无害感觉。脊髓中的三种不同过程可以解释体感系统感觉处理的这种显著改变：兴奋性增加、抑制性降低和结构重组。所有这些都已被证明会发生，并且它们可能单独或共同导致广泛的慢性炎症性和神经性疼痛疾病。对所涉及细胞机制的阐明既为开发新的治疗策略提供了潜力，这些策略可减少功能性突触可塑性并防止受损神经元的中枢萎缩和再生反应，也说明了成年神经系统进行适应不良性改变的能力。
