Mechanisms and Mediators of Neuropathic Pain (Malmberg, A. B., and
Chaplan, S. R. (eds.) Birkhauser, Basel-Boston-Berlin, 2002)
The book “Mechanisms and Mediators of Neuropathic Pain”
published in 2002 in the series “Progress in Inflammation
Research” was written by a team of authors--clinicians and
experimental physiologists. It considers mechanisms of neuropathic
pain--a pain syndrome accompanying peripheral neuropathies. The subject
of the first and second chapters are morpho-functional changes of
sensory axons and spinal cord after trans-sections of peripheral
nerves: some peculiarities of axonal spontaneous activity, expression
of sodium and other channel proteins, role of cytokines and
neurotrophins in generation of nociceptive pain signals. In the third
chapter, the mechanisms and features of neuropathic pain are
considered, which were found using experimental models and clinical
observations of neuropathic pain. In the last chapter of the book, the
results of clinical use of glutamate antagonists (ketamine,
amantadine), anti-epileptic drugs (phenytoin, carbamazepine, and
others), and Ca
2+-blockers (nicardipine, verapamil) for
arresting of neuropathic pain are discussed. A possible role of
acetylcholine receptors and adenosine- and adreno-receptors in
evaluation of chronic pain syndrome is discussed. Brief but substantial
analysis of new data concerning the problem of neuropathic pain,
brought together in the book, will be interesting for physiologists,
pharmacologists, biochemists, clinicians, and many other readers.
O. P. Balezina, Doctor of Sciences
