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Neuroscience

Unbearable lightness of touch

Nature volume 462, pages 580–581 (2009)Cite this article

Following inflammation or nerve injury, stimuli that are normally perceived as innocuous can evoke persistent pain. A population of neurons that contributes to this syndrome has now been identified.

For many people with persistent pain syndromes, even the touch of something as innocuous as a shirt on their skin can be agonizing. Determining the underlying cause of this debilitating pain is essential for developing effective therapies. However, the precise identity of the neural circuits involved has so far remained elusive. In this issue (page 651), Seal et al.1 pinpoint a previously enigmatic population of small sensory neurons that respond to light touch, and show that they have a crucial role in the painful sensitivity to touch or pressure that follows injury or inflammation.

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Figure 1: Schematic view of peripheral sensory neurons terminating in the spinal-cord dorsal horn.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liam J. Drew is in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and Amy B. MacDermott is in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and the Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. ljd2109@columbia.edu; abm1@columbia.edu,

    Liam J. Drew & Amy B. MacDermott

  2. abm1@columbia.edu,

    Liam J. Drew & Amy B. MacDermott

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  1. Liam J. Drew
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  2. Amy B. MacDermott
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Drew, L., MacDermott, A. Unbearable lightness of touch. Nature 462, 580–581 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/462580a

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