PMID- 23840097
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20131203
LR  - 20231106
IS  - 1466-1861 (Electronic)
IS  - 0962-9351 (Print)
IS  - 0962-9351 (Linking)
VI  - 2013
DP  - 2013
TI  - Neurovascular unit in chronic pain.
PG  - 648268
LID - 10.1155/2013/648268 [doi]
LID - 648268
AB  - Chronic pain is a debilitating condition with major socioeconomic impact, whose 
      neurobiological basis is still not clear. An involvement of the neurovascular 
      unit (NVU) has been recently proposed. In particular, the blood-brain barrier 
      (BBB) and blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), two NVU key players, may be affected 
      during the development of chronic pain; in particular, transient permeabilization 
      of the barrier is suggested by several inflammatory- and nerve-injury-based pain 
      models, and we argue that the clarification of molecular BBB/BSCB 
      permeabilization events will shed new light in understanding chronic pain 
      mechanisms. Possible biases in experiments supporting this theory and its 
      translational potentials are discussed. Moving beyond an exclusive focus on the 
      role of the endothelium, we propose that our understanding of the mechanisms 
      subserving chronic pain will benefit from the extension of research efforts to 
      the NVU as a whole. In this view, the available evidence on the interaction 
      between analgesic drugs and the NVU is here reviewed. Chronic pain comorbidities, 
      such as neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, are also discussed in 
      view of NVU changes, together with innovative pharmacological solutions targeting 
      NVU components in chronic pain treatment.
FAU - Radu, Beatrice Mihaela
AU  - Radu BM
AD  - Department of Neurological, Neuropsychological, Morphological and Movement 
      Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
FAU - Bramanti, Placido
AU  - Bramanti P
FAU - Osculati, Francesco
AU  - Osculati F
FAU - Flonta, Maria-Luisa
AU  - Flonta ML
FAU - Radu, Mihai
AU  - Radu M
FAU - Bertini, Giuseppe
AU  - Bertini G
FAU - Fabene, Paolo Francesco
AU  - Fabene PF
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Review
DEP - 20130605
PL  - United States
TA  - Mediators Inflamm
JT  - Mediators of inflammation
JID - 9209001
RN  - 0 (ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters)
SB  - IM
MH  - ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/metabolism
MH  - Animals
MH  - Blood-Brain Barrier/metabolism/pathology
MH  - Chronic Pain/*metabolism
MH  - Humans
MH  - Neuralgia/metabolism/pathology
MH  - Neurodegenerative Diseases/metabolism/pathology
MH  - Spinal Cord/metabolism/pathology
PMC - PMC3687484
EDAT- 2013/07/11 06:00
MHDA- 2013/12/16 06:00
PMCR- 2013/06/05
CRDT- 2013/07/11 06:00
PHST- 2013/03/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/05/08 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/07/11 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/07/11 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/12/16 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2013/06/05 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1155/2013/648268 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Mediators Inflamm. 2013;2013:648268. doi: 10.1155/2013/648268. Epub 2013 Jun 5.