Pain as a channelopathy.
Mendelian heritable pain disorders have provided insights into human pain mechanisms and suggested new analgesic drug targets. Interestingly, many of the heritable monogenic pain disorders have been mapped to mutations in genes encoding ion channels. Studies in transgenic mice have also implicated many ion channels in damage sensing and pain modulation. It seems likely that aberrant peripheral or central ion channel activity underlies or initiates many pathological pain conditions. Understanding the mechanistic basis of ion channel malfunction in terms of trafficking, localization, biophysics, and consequences for neurotransmission is a potential route to new pain therapies.
Molecular Nociception Group, Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, UK. j.wood@ucl.ac.uk
Ramin
R
Raouf
Kathryn
K
Quick
John N
JN
Wood
D000818:Animals; D053447:Channelopathies / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010146:Pain / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology
D007473:Ion Channels