Julius & Basbaum (2001): Molecular mechanisms of nociception

[Wise Young]

• Julius D and Basbaum AI (2001). Molecular mechanisms of nociception. Nature. 413 (6852): 203-10. Summary: The sensation of pain alerts us to real or impending injury and triggers appropriate protective responses. Unfortunately, pain often outlives its usefulness as a warning system and instead becomes chronic and debilitating. This transition to a chronic phase involves changes within the spinal cord and brain, but there is also remarkable modulation where pain messages are initiated - at the level of the primary sensory neuron. Efforts to determine how these neurons detect pain-producing stimuli of a thermal, mechanical or chemical nature have revealed new signalling mechanisms and brought us closer to understanding the molecular events that facilitate transitions from acute to persistent pain. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?db=m&form=6&dopt=r&uid=11557989> Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA.

[This message was edited by Wise Young on September 24, 2001 at 12:44 AM.]