| Ballroom C (Washington DC Convention Center) | |||
| Immune-glial and Pain Interactions | |||
| Chronic pain has been associated with neuroinflammatory processes both in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Chronic inflammatory processes are orchestrated by chemical messages such as chemokines and cytokines, known to be released by glial cells These include schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system and astrocytes and microglia in the spinal cord. This symposium will explore the pain modulatory roles of glia, from the periphery to the central nervous system. Data will be presented and discussed from several vantagepoints. The first speaker will focus on the intriguing finding that peripheral nerve injury induces the upregulation of neuronal chemokines and chemokine receptors, but only after a substantial delay. Whether this delayed expression contributes to chronicity of pain behavior in rodents will be discussed. The second speaker will focus on novel mechanisms that modulate glial function so to decrease central sensitization, the pathological correlate of chronic pain states. The last speaker will discuss how glial-opioid interactions affect the pharmacodynamic responses to opioids, and how selectively targeting the glial component of an opioid response drastically changes classic opioid effects. | |||
| Moderator: | Erin D. Milligan, PhD | ||
| Presenters: | Fletcher A. White, PhD Joyce A. DeLeo, PhD Mark R. Hutchinson, PhD | ||
| Immune-glial and Pain Interactions Erin D. Milligan, PhD | |||
| Chemokines: Integrators of Pain and Inflammation Fletcher A. White, PhD | |||
| The tetrapartite synapse: Path to CNS sensitization and chronic pain Joyce A. DeLeo, PhD | |||
| Glia as the “bad guys”: Implications for improving clinical pain control and the clinical utility of opioids Mark R. Hutchinson, PhD | |||
[Handout]
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