Dendritic spines – small protrusions from the dendrites of neurons – have been familiar to neuroscientists for more than a century, especially to those studying the neuronal mechanisms of learning and memory. But the contribution of these structures to neurological diseases is still poorly understood. How changes in dendritic spine structure may play a part in pain is even less well known. Now, by examining changes in the structure of dendritic spines in vivo – over time, before and after nerve injury, in the same neurons – a new study provides fresh insight into the role of dendritic spine dynamics in pain.

When it comes to the experimental tools that researchers use to understand pain at the cellular and molecular level, dorsal root ganglion neurons from animals—and more recently from human donors—have traditionally received most of the fanfare. But there is a new game in town. Pain researchers are now turning to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and the sensory neurons that can be derived from them (iPSC-SNs), to understand painful conditions and the neurobiological mechanisms that drive them. Two new studies now show the value of this “pain-in-a-dish” approach, particularly when combined with more traditional strategies, in patients with rare pain disorders caused by mutations in the sodium channel Nav1.7.

“Nociplastic pain” officially adopted by IASP as third mechanistic descriptor of chronic pain

This article was originally published on the Pain Research Forum on 5 Feb 2018

by Neil Andrews

For decades, pain researchers have set their sights on understanding pain mechanisms—the cellular and molecular machinery underlying chronic pain. In doing so, they became increasingly aware that the terms they used to describe the neurobiological workings of pain did not always match what they had learned.

In 2017, for the first time ever, the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) World Congress featured a pre-conference workshop on the topic of pain and aging. The workshop, titled “Pain and Aging: Measurement, Mechanisms, and Management,” and held July 23 in beautiful—and even sunny—San Francisco, US, featured many of the world’s leading experts on pain and aging. Eighty-six attendees from 24 countries gathered to listen to talks on pain epidemiology and assessment, biopsychosocial contributions to pain, pain and comorbidities, pain treatment, and incorporation of the social and behavioral sciences into pain research in elderly populations.