How glycine inhibitory dysfunction turns touch into pain

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event How glycine inhibitory dysfunction turns touch into pain Daniel Voisin1*, L S. Miraucourt1 and R. Dallel1 1 University Bordeaux 2, Integrative physiology of neuroendocrine systems, France Dynamic mechanical allodynia is a widespread and intractable symptom of neuropathic pain for which there is a lack of effective therapy. During tactile allodynia, activation of the sensory fibers, which normally detect touch, elicits pain. We recently provided a novel perspective on the mechanisms of this symptom by showing that a simple switch in trigeminal glycinergic synaptic inhibition can turn touch into pain by unmasking innocuous input to superficial dorsal horn nociceptive specific neurons through a local, excitatory, NMDA-dependent neural circuit involving neurons expressing the gamma isoform of protein kinase C. Glycinergic disinhibition selectively induced a morphine resistant, dynamic, but not static, mechanical allodynia, which output operated through superficial lamina nociceptive neurons lacking the neurokinin 1 receptor. Our findings thus revealed the involvement of a selective dorsal horn circuit in dynamic mechanical allodynia. In addition, we found that after removal of glycinergic inhibition, innocuous input also activated astrocytes that drove the neural circuit through D-serine release. Our data thus also fuels the emerging concept that astrocytes are dynamic partners of pain signaling. Conference: 3rd Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience , Alexandria, Egypt, 13 Dec - 16 Dec, 2009. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Symposium 04 – Dis-inhibition processes in pain sensitization Citation: Voisin D, Miraucourt LS and Dallel R (2009). How glycine inhibitory dysfunction turns touch into pain. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 3rd Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience . doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.16.015 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Nov 2009; Published Online: 18 Nov 2009. * Correspondence: Daniel Voisin, University Bordeaux 2, Integrative physiology of neuroendocrine systems, Bordeaux, France, daniel.voisin@inserm.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Daniel Voisin L S Miraucourt R. Dallel Google Daniel Voisin L S Miraucourt R. Dallel Google Scholar Daniel Voisin L S Miraucourt R. Dallel PubMed Daniel Voisin L S Miraucourt R. Dallel Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.