Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Optopharmacology

A light switch for pain

Nature Chemical Biology volume 9, pages 219–220 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

A small molecule called optovin acts as a light-sensitive ligand for an ion channel involved in the detection of painful sensory stimuli. This unexpected finding emerged from a behavioral screen in zebrafish and provides a tool for the remote control of pain by light.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Optical control of pain by optovin.

Marina Corral

References

  1. Kokel, D. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 9, 257–263 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Nagel, G. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 13940–13945 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang, F. et al. Cell 147, 1446–1457 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bandell, M. et al. Neuron 41, 849–857 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Basbaum, A.I., Bautista, D.M., Scherrer, G. & Julius, D. Cell 139, 267–284 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Prober, D.A. et al. J. Neurosci. 28, 10102–10110 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hinman, A., Chuang, H.H., Bautista, D.M. & Julius, D. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 19564–19568 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Macpherson, L.J. et al. Nature 445, 541–545 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Mourot, A. et al. Nat. Methods 9, 396–402 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Otto Fajardo and Rainer W. Friedrich are at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland.,

    Otto Fajardo & Rainer W Friedrich

Authors
  1. Otto Fajardo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rainer W Friedrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rainer W Friedrich.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fajardo, O., Friedrich, R. A light switch for pain. Nat Chem Biol 9, 219–220 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1203

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1203

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research