title: Deconstructing the neuropathic pain phenotype to reveal neural mechanisms.
abstract: After nerve injury maladaptive changes can occur in injured sensory neurons and along the entire nociceptive pathway within the CNS, which may lead to spontaneous pain or pain hypersensitivity. The resulting neuropathic pain syndromes present as a complex combination of negative and positive symptoms, which vary enormously from individual to individual. This variation depends on a diversity of underlying pathophysiological changes resulting from the convergence of etiological, genotypic, and environmental factors. The pain phenotype can serve therefore, as a window on underlying pathophysiological neural mechanisms and as a guide for developing personalized pain medicine.
authors.affiliation: FM Kirby Neurobiology Center, Children's Hospital Boston, and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Christian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: von Hehn
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.forename: Clifford J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Woolf
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000473:pathology*; D010641:Phenotype