The potential importance for nociception of P2X receptors, the ionotropic receptors activated by ATP, is underscored by the variety of pain states in which this endogenous ligand can be released. Several important findings have been made recently indicating that P2X receptors can be involved in pain mechanisms both centrally and in the periphery. The roles of ATP at these two sites and the P2X ...

Even though it is a costly, poorly understood problem, very little effort has been dedicated toward research on the mechanisms of acute postoperative pain. Presumably, if we learn more about the etiology of acute incisional pain and the sensory processes that intensify pain after surgery, new treatment methods can be advanced. Since the mid-1990s, our group and others have developed and charact...

Background: The authors recently established that the analgesic actions of the inhalation anesthetic nitrous oxide were mediated by noradrenergic bulbospinal neurons and spinal 2B adrenoceptors. They now determined whether noradrenergic brainstem nuclei and descending spinal pathways are responsible for the antinociceptive actions of the inhalation anesthetic isoflurane, and which adrenoceptors...

Growth hormone (GH) and insulin growth factor 1 (IGF1) are implicated in nociceptive processing; it has been reported that the latter participates in neonatal inflammatory nociception. In the target article, the authors propose that local inflammation evoked by carrageenan administration in mice produces a decrease in the local GH levels and an increment of IGF1 receptors type 1 expression, thi...

purpose : to investigate the correlation between corneal biomechanical properties and tomographic parameters of pentacam methods : corneal biomechanical properties and tomographic results of 36 normal subjects were measured by ocular response analyzer (ora) and pentacam and the correlation between these two measurements were analyzed with pearson correlation test with spss version16. results : ...

Background: Human cornea expresses functional Fas-ligand capable of killing Fas+ activated lymphocytes. Fas expression is partly regulated by -670 A/G polymorphism in the promoter region of Fas gene. Objective: The aim of the present study is to determine the association between Fas-670A/G polymorphism and survival of corneal transplantation. Methods: In 276 graft recipients who mainly underwen...

The level of wakefulness is one of the major factors affecting nociception and pain. Stress-induced analgesia supports an animal's survival via prompt defensive responses against predators or competitors. Previous studies have shown the pharmacological effects of orexin peptides on analgesia. However, orexin neurons contain not only orexin but also other co-transmitters such as dynorphin, neuro...

BACKGROUND The menstrual cycle influences pain, with symptoms often increasing during the premenstrual (late-luteal) phase. Deficiencies in endogenous inhibition of afferent nociception at the spinal level might contribute to menstrual phase-related changes in pain. PURPOSE This study assessed whether conditioned pain modulation (CPM) of spinal nociception differs between mid-follicular and l...