title: Can satellite glial cells be therapeutic targets for pain control?
abstract: Satellite glial cells (SGCs) undergo phenotypic changes and divide the following injury into a peripheral nerve. Nerve injury, also elicits an immune response and several antigen-presenting cells are found in close proximity to SGCs. Silencing SCG-specific molecules involved in intercellular transport (Connexin 43) or glutamate recycling (glutamine synthase) can dramatically alter nociceptive responses of normal and nerve-injured rats. Transducing SGCs with glutamic acid decarboxylase can produce analgesia in models of trigeminal pain. Taken together these data suggest that SGCs may play a role in the genesis or maintenance of pain and open a range of new possibilities for curing neuropathic pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0452, USA. ljasmin@gmail.com
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jasmin
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vit
authors.forename: Aditi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhargava
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Ohara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D018031:Connexin 43 / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D053331:Ectodysplasins / Q000378:metabolism; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000628:therapy; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology; D005970:Glutamate Synthase / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D051916:Membrane Cofactor Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000502:physiology*; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012201:Reward; D051640:Small-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D018031:Connexin 43; D053331:Ectodysplasins; C496901:Kcnn3 protein, rat; D051916:Membrane Cofactor Protein; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D051640:Small-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels; D005970:Glutamate Synthase; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine