PSYC 302 Lecture 20: PSYC 302 - lecture 20
10 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Gene expression in the drg changes after nerve injury. Recall our previous discussion of na channels reasonable target = stopping the propagation of aps. Another reasonable target = cell body of the primary afferent. If you injure primary afferents, the peptide nts that are found in the cell bodies will either increase or decrease their expression. Re(cid:373)e(cid:373)(cid:271)er that pri(cid:373)ar(cid:455) affere(cid:374)ts release gluta(cid:373)ate as their (cid:862)(cid:373)ai(cid:374)(cid:863) nt sometimes gaba - but their also contain peptides (very many neurons contain and release more than one nt) Substance p and cgrp (calcitonin gene-related peptide) are two very important peptides whose synthesis decreases upon axonal injury. Cgrp blocking high potential for migraine tx. In some sense, this synapse (primary afferent = presynaptic cell and 2nd order neuron = postsynaptic cell) is the gate in the gate control theory or pain. Drugs that will increase the release of nt here will cause pain and those that decrease the release will be analgesic.
