Editors ’ Picks

Inflammation or nerve injury often results in exaggerated responses to innocuous mechanical stimuli, a condition that is termed mechanical allodynia. Although theories that this pain results from sensitization of peripheral sensory neurons or amplification of the signal at the spinal cord have been proposed, the molecular players involved in this mechanism have remained unclear. In two companion papers, Szczot and colleagues and Murthy and colleagues utilized different mouse models to demonstrate that the mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo2, which is expressed on a variety of somatosensory neurons, mediates sensitivity to mechanical pain in mice.
Source: Journal of Investigative Dermatology - Category: Dermatology Tags: Editorial Source Type: research