title: Nitric oxide-mediated pain processing in the spinal cord.
abstract: A large body of evidence indicates that nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the processing of persistent inflammatory and neuropathic pain in the spinal cord. Several animal studies revealed that inhibition or knockout of NO synthesis ameliorates persistent pain. However, spinal delivery of NO donors caused dual pronociceptive and antinociceptive effects, pointing to multiple downstream signaling mechanisms of NO. This review summarizes the localization and function of NO-dependent signaling mechanisms in the spinal cord, taking account of the recent progress made in this field.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Universität Witten/Herdecke, ZBAF, Stockumer Str. 10, 58453, Witten, Germany, Achim.Schmidtko@uni-wh.de.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidtko
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006152:Cyclic GMP / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D030421:Peroxynitrous Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D030421:Peroxynitrous Acid; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D006152:Cyclic GMP