Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Giuseppe Forte, Valentina Giuffrida, Angelica Scuderi, Mariella Pazzaglia
Summary: Neuropathic pain is a common chronic condition that severely affects patients with spinal cord injuries. Current treatment options are limited, but nanomedicine shows potential for improving therapeutic efficacy. However, its application in treating neuropathic pain following spinal cord injuries still needs further improvement.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Fangliang Guo, Xiaolong Zheng, Ziyu He, Ruoying Zhang, Song Zhang, Minghuan Wang, Hong Chen, Wei Wang
Summary: The study found that long-term treatment with NMD helps to improve locomotion, pain-related behaviors, and spasticity-like symptoms in rats with SCI, but has less effect on open-field activity, hind limb grip strength, and bladder function. Additionally, NMD-treated rats showed greater tissue preservation, reduced lesion areas, and increased perilesional neuronal sparing, suggesting a potential therapeutic strategy for SCI treatment.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Eva Widerstrom-Noga, Kimberly D. Anderson, Linda E. Robayo, Salome Perez, Alberto Martinez-Arizala, Lindsey Calle-Coule, Nicholas P. Cherup, Gabriel E. Fernandez
Summary: Many people with spinal cord injury (SCI) suffer from chronic pain, including neuropathic pain, which is often difficult to treat due to its complex nature. A multimodal approach, involving pharmacological treatments, physical rehabilitation, cognitive training, and pain education, may be the most effective strategy for managing pain in this population. This study developed an educational resource called SeePain, which was evaluated and modified based on stakeholder input, including SCI patients, their loved ones, and healthcare providers. The final resource is a comprehensive guide intended to improve health literacy and enhance communication between SCI patients and their healthcare providers. Future research will validate the effectiveness of SeePain using a large sample of SCI patients.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Zhihao Zhang, Zhijie Zhu, Xiaoshuang Zuo, Xuankang Wang, Cheng Ju, Zhuowen Liang, Kun Li, Jiawei Zhang, Liang Luo, Yangguang Ma, Zhiwen Song, Xin Li, Penghui Li, Huilin Quan, Peipei Huang, Zhou Yao, Ning Yang, Jie Zhou, Zhenzhen Kou, Beiyu Chen, Tan Ding, Zhe Wang, Xueyu Hu
Summary: This study investigated the mechanisms of photobiomodulation (PBM) in relieving neuropathic pain (NP) after spinal cord injury (SCI). It was found that PBM therapy inhibited the activation of microglia and astrocytes, decreased the expression of CXCL10 in glial cells, and mediated the NF-κB signaling pathway.
CNS NEUROSCIENCE & THERAPEUTICS
(2023)
Article
Anesthesiology
Morena Shkodra, Cinzia Brunelli, Ernesto Zecca, Fabio Formaglio, Paola Bracchi, Silvia Lo Dico, Mariangela Caputo, Stein Kaasa, Augusto Caraceni
Summary: The study highlights the lack of standardized clinical diagnosis for Neuropathic cancer pain (NcP), leading to disagreements in classification among clinicians. Discordance was particularly high for specific pain syndromes.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Luciana Mendonca Barbosa, Fernanda da Valerio, Samira Luisa Apostolos Pereira, Valquiria Aparecida da Silva, Antonia Lilian de Lima Rodrigues, Ricardo Galhardoni, Lin Tchia Yeng, Jefferson Rosi Jr, Adriana Bastos Conforto, Leandro Tavares Lucato, Marcelo Delboni Lemos, Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira, Daniel Ciampi de Andrade
Summary: This study examined the relationships between symptoms and somatosensory profiles in patients with central neuropathic pain (CNP) caused by different types of lesions to the central nervous system. The results suggest that CNP of different etiologies may have different pain descriptors and somatosensory profiles, likely due to differences in lesion locations.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Review
Neurosciences
Chang Sun, Junhao Deng, Yifei Ma, Fanqi Meng, Xiang Cui, Ming Li, Jiantao Li, Jia Li, Pengbin Yin, Lingjie Kong, Licheng Zhang, Peifu Tang
Summary: This article presents a comprehensive overview of recent advances in understanding the role of microglia in the development of neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury (SCI). It delves into the detrimental and protective effects of microglia on neuropathic pain following SCI, as well as the mechanisms underlying their interconversion. The article also provides a thorough overview of potential avenues for future research in this area.
EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Dominika Mech, Katarzyna Korgol, Antonina Kurowska, Bartlomiej Adamski, Malgorzata Miazga, Grazyna Biala, Marta Kruk-Slomka
Summary: Spinal cord injury is a neurological condition that causes significant motor dysfunction, and current treatments only provide moderate efficacy, leaving patients with long-term disabilities. A scientific review is needed to summarize recent developments in therapeutic methods for SCI. This review focuses on pharmacological treatments and the challenges faced by patients depending on the location of the injury, addressing issues such as spasticity, neuropathic pain, neuroprotection, neurotransmission, and oxidative stress.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Immunology
Jing Zhu, Fei Huang, Yonglin Hu, Wei Qiao, Yingchao Guan, Zhi-Jun Zhang, Su Liu, Ying Liu
Summary: Secondary chronic neuropathic pain (NP) after spinal cord injury (SCI) significantly reduces quality of life. The mechanisms of NP in SCI have been studied, and reducing neuroinflammation has shown potential for improving NP-related behaviors. Non-coding RNAs have been found to play important roles in SCI, regulating gene expression, inhibiting inflammation, and influencing the prognosis of NP.
JOURNAL OF INFLAMMATION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Eric Brown, Ayma F. Malik, Elizabeth R. Moese, Abigail F. McElroy, Angelo C. Lepore
Summary: Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common and debilitating comorbidity of spinal cord injury (SCI). This study investigates the neural activity changes in the pain circuitry following cervical spinal cord injury. The findings reveal complex changes in neuronal activation, with increased activation in some neurons and decreased activation in inhibitory neurons.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Rehabilitation
Xiaoyi Zhou, Shaofeng Chen, Yajun Cheng, Kai Chen, Ming Li, Yushu Bai, Xianzhao Wei
Summary: The study aimed to adapt the SCIPI into a simplified Chinese version and examine its reliability and validity in screening for neuropathic pain in SCI patients. The results showed that the SC-SCIPI demonstrated good internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity, indicating its applicability in clinical practice for neuropathic pain screening.
DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Simona Capossela, Gunther Landmann, Mario Ernst, Lenka Stockinger, Jivko Stoyanov
Summary: This study evaluates the feasibility of using a multimodal pain assessment protocol for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) during rehabilitation. The protocol combines clinical workup, quantitative sensory testing, and psychosocial factors, along with molecular blood biomarkers. The findings reveal different pain trajectories, inflammatory responses, and potential biomarkers associated with SCI. The study also highlights the importance of considering recruitment settings and protocol adjustments to improve the feasibility of multimodal pain evaluation studies in SCI patients. It provides insights into early adaptive mechanisms in SCI pathophysiology and the need for further exploration of prognostic and preventive strategies for chronic pain in the SCI population.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Silvia Castany, Anna Bago-Mas, Jose Miguel Vela, Enrique Verdu, Karolina Bretova, Viktorie Svobodova, Petr Dubovy, Pere Boadas-Vaello
Summary: This study aimed to determine whether neuroinflammatory factor over-expression in the spinal cord and supraspinal structures may be associated with reflexive and nonreflexive pain response development from acute spinal cord injury (SCI) phase to 12 weeks post-injury in female mice. The results show that transient reflexive responses were observed during the SCI acute phase associated with transient cytokine overexpression in the spinal cord. In contrast, increased nonreflexive pain responses were observed in the chronic phase associated with cytokine overexpression in supraspinal structures, especially in mPFC. In addition, results revealed the contribution of neuron-glia crosstalk in the development of nonreflexive pain responses in the chronic spinal cord injury phase, as indicated by increased glial activation and CX3CL1/CX3CR1 upregulation in the neurons in the mPFC.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Orthopedics
Tengbin Shi, Zhengxi Yu, Zhi Chen, Dingwei Wu, Zhenyu Wang, Wenge Liu
Summary: This retrospective study investigates the impact of the time from injury to surgery on the development of neuropathic pain in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury. It finds that early surgical intervention can effectively prevent neuropathic pain in patients with incomplete traumatic spinal cord injury. Age, Injury Severity Score, and neurological level of injury are identified as independent risk factors associated with the development of neuropathic pain.
JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY AND RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Yan Fu, Liting Sun, Fengting Zhu, Wei Xia, Ting Wen, Ruilong Xia, Xin Yu, Dan Xu, Changgeng Peng
Summary: Neuropathic pain caused by spinal cord injury is a long-term disturbance for patients, and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. This study found that the abnormal expression of Nav1.7 in SDH is associated with NP. Pharmacological studies demonstrated that the blood-brain-barrier permeable Nav1.7 inhibitor GNE-0439 has a significant analgesic effect on NP in SCI mice.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)