Abstract
Purpose: Drug therapy is the main treatment option for the control of neuropathic pain. However, current drugs indeed exert less preventive effect on pain in several patients suffering from neuropathic pain. This notion indicates that new therapeutic agents with different mechanisms of action from drugs currently used are required. We have considered that the dopaminergic nervous system is a strong candidate to be targeted to control pain. This article discusses the contribution of the dopaminergic nervous system in the brain to neuropathic pain based on the current available.
Study selection: This article was written based on “Suppression of orofacial neuropathic pain by dopaminergic nervous system” at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Orofacial Pain, held on October 9, 2022, at the basic symposium “Pain Research in Dental Anesthesiologists”.
Results: Mesolimbic system is dopaminergic system and consisted with the brain region, such as ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens. Recent studies reported that mesolimbic system is involved in orofacial neuropathic pain. A11 cell group is in the hypothalamus and has dopaminergic projection to trigeminal spinal subnucleus caudalis. Hypothalamic A11 cell group is also reported the involvement of neuropathic pain. The changes of dopaminergic system including expression levels and function of dopamine receptor have also been reported in neuropathic pain.
Conclusion: Although the involvement of dopaminergic system on neuropathic pain is becoming clear gradually, further investigation is required. It can make dopaminergic system a therapeutic target, and intervention therein an option for controlling pain.
