Good touch, bad touch

University of California, San Franciscoresearchers have identified the precise spinal cord neurons that cause hypersensitivity to gentle touches, a common form of neuropathic pain associated with injury and inflammation.¹ The study also presents a drug target specific to these neurons: a glutamate transporter called VGLUT3that helps prime neurons to fire at the lightest touch.

Physiologists have known since the 1920s that different neurons within the spinal cord's dorsal root ganglia convey distinct types of pain to the brain. These neurons include fast-acting, highly myelinated nerve fibers that convey acute pain caused by heat or injury, and slow-acting, poorly myelinated fibers that transmit more deep-rooted, throbbing pain caused by inflammation...