Molecular Mechanisms of Chronic Pain and New Therapeutic Strategies Volume II
A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Biology and Pathology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 1751
Special Issue Editor
Interests: pain pharmacology; chronic pain; neuropathic pain, visceral pain; peripheral nervous system; central nervous system; glia; neuroimmune interactions; gut microbiota
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Chronic pain, which is predicted to affect up to 30% of adults worldwide, is one of the most frequent reasons for patients to seek medical care. Although pain itself is not immediately life-threatening, its persistence strongly impacts people’s quality of life. Different types of chronic pain can be identified based on their nature (somatic or visceral) and their etiopathogenesis (inflammatory pain, cancer pain, and neuropathic pain). It is generally acknowledged that chronic pain results from neuronal plasticity, involving both peripheral primary sensory neurons as well as central nociceptive neurons, leading to an altered perception of pain. The maladaptive response of the complex cellular network involved in the transmission and perception of pain dramatically upsets the nociceptive system as well as the physiological substrate of classical painkiller drugs. Despite recent advances in the identification of pain-generating mechanisms and the implementation of treatment guidelines, the management of chronic pain still represents a therapeutic problem. Thus, the identification of novel molecular and cellular targets for the development of effective and safe therapeutic strategies requires particular attention from the medical community. In recent years, the investigation has been shifted from neurons to non-neuronal cells able to modulate neuronal function and pain, like glial cells, immune cells, and gut microbiota. This Special Issue aims to collect original papers and reviews about pain mechanisms and suitable approaches to prevent and treat chronic pain in different pathologic conditions as a single therapy or as an adjuvant to other pain medications.
Dr. Elena Lucarini
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- chronic pain
- neuropathic pain
- visceral pain
- musculoskeletal pain
- pain biology
- glial cells
- neuroimmune interactions
- gut microbiota
- pain medicine
- drug tolerance
