Makoto Tsuda

Neuropathic pain, a debilitating pain condition, is a common consequence of damage to the nervous system. Optimal treatment of neuropathic pain is a major clinical challenge because the underlying mechanisms remain unclear and currently available treatments are frequently ineffective. Emerging lines of evidence indicate that peripheral nerve injury converts resting spinal cord glia into reactive cells that are required for the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. However, the mechani

Neuropathic pain, a highly debilitating pain condition that commonly occurs after nerve damage, is a reflection of the aberrant excitability of dorsal horn neurons. This pathologically altered neurotransmission requires a communication with spinal microglia activated by nerve injury. However, how normal resting microglia become activated remains unknown. Here we show that in naive animals spinal microglia express a receptor for the cytokine IFN-gamma (IFN-gammaR) in a cell-type-specific manner a

In contrast to physiological pain, pathological pain is not dependent on the presence of tissue-damaging stimuli. One type of pathological pain - neuropathic pain - is often a consequence of nerve injury or of diseases such as diabetes. Neuropathic pain can be agonizing, can persist over long periods and is often resistant to known painkillers. A growing body of evidence shows that many pathological processes within the central nervous system are mediated by complex interactions between neurons

A new high pressure flow meter (HPFM) method for measuring plant hydraulic conductances (K) was investigated to examine whether its results are comparable to those from a conventional evaporative flux (EF) method in crops. Hydraulic conductance (K) was measured by the two methods under quasi-steady-state conditions in six crops grown in pots: soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv. Tsurunoko daizu), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv. Russian mammoth), kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Tsurunashi

Extracellular ATP has been known to activate sensory neurons via the ATP-gated ion channels P2X receptors, indicating that the P2X receptors may play a role in signal transduction of pain from the periphery to the spinal cord in vivo. Here, we found a novel nociceptive response induced by ATP, mechanical allodynia (hypersensitivity to innocuous mechanical stimulus). Injection of alpha,beta-methylene ATP (alpha(beta)meATP), an agonist to P2X receptor, into plantar surface in rats produced the mec

Hydraulic properties were studied in Acer saccharinum L., a riparian species that also grows well on a dry soil when transplanted. Hydraulic resistances were measured by two independent techniques: a new high-pressure flowmeter (HPFM) method and a conventional evaporative flux (EF) method. Vulnerability to cavitation was also investigated on petioles, stems and roots using a hydraulic conductivity technique. Vulnerability segmentation was found, i.e., roots, stems and petioles had different vuln

Neuropathic pain is a debilitating chronic pain condition occurring after damage in the nervous system and is refractory to the currently available treatments. Major challenges include elucidating its mechanisms and developing new medications to treat it. Nerve injury-induced pain hypersensitivity involves aberrant excitability in spinal dorsal horn (SDH) neurons as a consequence of dysfunction of inhibitory interneurons and of hyperactivity of glial cells, especially microglia, the immune cells

Neuropathic pain, a debilitating pain condition, is a common consequence of damage to the nervous system. Neuropathic pain is often resistant to currently available analgesics. A growing body of evidence indicates that spinal microglia react and undergo a series of changes that directly influence the establishment of neuropathic pain states. After nerve injury, P2X4 receptors (P2X4Rs) are upregulated in spinal microglia by several factors at the transcriptional and translational levels. Those in

Neuropathic pain is a highly debilitating chronic pain state that is a consequence of nerve injury or of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, infection, autoimmune disease, or trauma. Neuropathic pain is often resistant to currently available analgesics. There is a rapidly growing body of evidence indicating that signalings from spinal microglia play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain. After peripheral nerve injury, microglia transform to reactive states through the expression o

We have previously shown that activation of the ATP-gated ion channel subtype P2X(4) receptors (P2X(4)Rs) in the spinal cord, the expression of which is upregulated in microglia after nerve injury, is necessary for producing neuropathic pain. The upregulation of P2X(4)Rs in microglia is, therefore, a key process in neuropathic pain, but the mechanism remains unknown. Here, we find a fibronectin/integrin-dependent mechanism in the upregulation of P2X(4)Rs. Microglia cultured on dishes coated with

1. The aim of the present study is to characterize the role of spinal endogenous ATP and P2X receptors in the generation of neurogenic and inflammatory pain. We examined the effects of intrathecal treatment with P2X receptor antagonists on the formalin- and capsaicin-induced nociceptive behaviours in mice. 2. Intrathecal pretreatment with the general P2 receptor antagonist, pyridoxal-phosphate-6-azophenyl-2', 4'-disulphonic acid (PPADS), significantly suppressed both the first and second phases

Many pathological processes within the central nervous system are mediated by complex interactions between neurons and resident glial cells. In the case of painful peripheral neuropathy, spinal microglia react and undergo a series of changes that directly influence the establishment of neuropathic pain states. Purinergic signaling has been shown to be at the center of this reactivity, and here we review recent mechanistic advances describing the importance of microglial P2 receptors and their in