Systematic study on the mechanism of generation, maintenance and recognition of neuropathic pain, a model of neural plasticity

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Neuropathic pain such as postherpetic neuralgia is a clinical problem in Japan of the aged society. Successful pain management is required both for the quality of life of patients suffering from persistent pain and for societal economic costs of pain. Although neuropathic pain has been believed to be intractable due to long-term alterations such as phenotype change and reorganization of neural network in the pain transmission system, the present study demonstrates that chronic pain is generated and maintained by plastic, functional changes such as protein phosphorylation and increase in production/release of biologically active substances caused by continuous inputs from peripheral tissues. We hypothesize that chronic pain is curable and has promoted translational research on objective diagnosis and nerve regeneration for treatment.