Papers of the Week

Neuropathic pain resulting from peripheral nerve lesions is a common medical condition, but current analgesics are often insufficient. The identification of key molecules involved in pathological pain processing is a prerequisite for the development of new analgesic drugs. Hyperexcitability of nociceptive DRG-neurons due to regulation of voltage-gated ion-channels is generally assumed to contribute strongly to neuropathic pain. There is increasing evidence, that T-type Ca-currents and in particular the Ca3.2 T-type-channel isoform play an important role in neuropathic pain, but experimental results are contradicting.