Zeitschrift für Schmerz und Linderung

Abstrakt

Immune Network, the Dangerous Liaisons in Pain: A Short Review

Emigdio J León-Toirac

Introduction: Pain has increasingly become an important health problem. However, few doctors at primary health care are qualified to treat it. Recent researches also suggest that neurons are not the only ones involved in the establishment and maintenance of pain. This short review was conceived to collect some information on the contribution of immune system to the pathogenesis of pain and also to shed light to other mechanisms connected to this process.

Development: Inflammation at the damaged site generates a cascade of events that produce innate immune cells concentration and activation; as well as production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, hormonal factors and neurotrophic activators of glial cells, which in turn perturb synaptic transmission. This entire complex induces pain persistence.

Concluding remarks: The recognized commitment of immune, endocrine and nervous cells in pathological changes related with pain is crucial to offer new and satisfactory approaches to solve this problem. Integral modulation of these agents would contribute to new effective alternatives in the handling of pain.