Access

News and Views

Nature 424, 729-730 (14 August 2003) | doi:10.1038/424729a

Neurobiology: New player in pain

Edwin W. McCleskey1

Top

Long-term pain must be accompanied by long-term alterations in neuronal signalling — but what causes the changes? In rats, immune-like spinal cells are implicated, together with a molecule new to the field of pain.

Normally essential to warn us of danger, pain becomes harmful when it occurs without any evident stimulus. If this persists, it can cripple a person's life.