Abstract
Almost three decades ago, the M current was identified and characterized in frog sympathetic neurons (Brown and Adams, 1980). The years following this discovery have seen a huge progress in the understanding of the function and the pharmacology of this current as well as on the structure of the underlying ion channels. Therapies for a number of syndromes involving abnormal levels of excitability in neurons are benefiting from research on M currents. At present, the potential of M current openers as analgesics for neuropathic pain is under discussion. Here we offer a critical view of existing data on the involvement of M currents in pain processing. We believe that enhancement of M currents at the site of injury may become a powerful strategy to alleviate pain in some peripheral neuropathies.
Highlights
Potassium channels constitute a very wide family of ionic channels that are present in most biological entities
Mechanistic studies indicated that retigabine hyperpolarized the areas of ectopic discharge generation decreasing the probability of firing action potentials. This mechanism could operate to suppress activity independently of the nature of the stimulus and fiber type. These findings suggest that Kv7 channels gain an extraordinary important role in the control of ectopic discharges which may result from a complex rearrangement of the ion channels expressed at ectopic areas and/or an altered expression of Kv7 subunits as suggested by preliminary work (Wickenden et al, 2002)
CONCLUDING REMARKS we may be looking at early times of research on the viability of M current modulation as a strategy for pain therapy, an emerging body of interesting and promising data is already available
Summary
Departamento de Fisiología, Edificio de Medicina, Universidad de Alcala, Madrid, Spain. The M current was identified and characterized in frog sympathetic neurons (Brown and Adams, 1980). The years following this discovery have seen a huge progress in the understanding of the function and the pharmacology of this current as well as on the structure of the underlying ion channels.Therapies for a number of syndromes involving abnormal levels of excitability in neurons are benefiting from research on M currents. The potential of M current openers as analgesics for neuropathic pain is under discussion. We offer a critical view of existing data on the involvement of M currents in pain processing.
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