Neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of central neuropathic pain

Abstract

The problem of chronic pain is a significant question of nowadays medicine due to its high prevalence and treatment ineffectiveness in most cases. It has been proved by means of neuroimaging methods that chronic pain is always associated with glial activation in central nervous system, leading to the disturbance of glial cells participation in the eregulation of neuron microenvironment and neurotransmitter exchange. As a result, interneuronal communication in nociceptive pathways is interrupted and pathological neuroplasticity processes develop, causing the formation of pathological circuits, selfregilated by means of positive feedback. Thus, intervention that is directed to neuroinflammation suppression can by pathogeneticaly approved and effective method to treat chronic pain. In this review basic mechanisms of the inflammation initiation and maintaining in central nervous system in chronic pain are considered, pathological self-regulated circuits with neurons and immune cells are described and current chronic pain medications with antiinflammatiry and antinociceptive properties are listed.