Abstract
Chronic pain relief remains an unmet medical need.Current research points to a substantial contribution of glia-neuron interaction in its pathogenesis.Particularly,microglia play a crucial role in the development of chronic pain.To better understand the microglial contribution to chronic pain,specific regional and temporal manipulations of microglia are necessary.Recently,two new approaches have emerged that meet these demands.Chemogenetic tools allow the expression of designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs(DREADDs)specifically in microglia.Similarly,optogenetic tools allow for microglial manipulation via the activation of artificially expressed,light-sensitive proteins.Chemo-and optogenetic manipu-lations of microglia in vivo are powerful in interrogating microglial function in chronic pain.This review summarizes these emerging tools in studying the role of microglia in chronic pain and highlights their potential applications in microglia-related neurological disorders.
基金项目
National Institutes of Health(R01NS088627)
National Institutes of Health(R01NS110825)
NETL
NSTL
维普
万方数据