title: Glial involvement in trigeminal central sensitization.
abstract: Recent studies have indicated that trigeminal neurons exhibit central sensitization, an increase in the excitability of neurons within the central nervous system to the extent that a normally innocuous stimulus begins to produce pain after inflammation or injury, and that glial activities play a vital role in this central sensitization. The involvement of glial cells in trigeminal central sensitization contains multiple mechanisms, including interaction with glutamatergic and purinergic receptors. A better understanding of the trigeminal central sensitization mediated by glial cells will help to find potential therapeutic targets and lead to developing new analgesics for orofacial-specific pain with higher efficiency and fewer side-effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China. yufeng71@gmail.com
authors.forename: Yu-feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009443:Neuritis / Q000473:pathology; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*