Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Aug;6(8):462-6.
doi: 10.1038/nrneurol.2010.90. Epub 2010 Jul 13.

Neuropathic pain in diabetes--evidence for a central mechanism

Tanya Z Fischer  1 , Stephen G Waxman
Affiliations
Review

Neuropathic pain in diabetes--evidence for a central mechanism

Tanya Z Fischer et al. Nat Rev Neurol. 2010 Aug.

Abstract

Hyperexcitability of and aberrant spontaneous impulse generation by damaged first-order sensory neurons and their peripheral axons are well-established processes that strongly contribute to pain associated with diabetic neuropathy. Studies in the past 5 years, however, suggest that, as in many neuropathic pain disorders, central neuropathic mechanisms can also contribute to pain experienced with diabetes. These studies have demonstrated that thalamic dysfunction occurs in patients with diabetes mellitus, and that in experimental models of this disease neurons in the ventral posterolateral thalamus can become hyperexcitable, firing at abnormally high frequencies and generating aberrant spontaneous activity. In this article, we discuss these findings, which suggest that thalamic neurons can act as central generators or amplifiers of pain in diabetes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Pain. 2010 Feb;11(2):119-30 - PubMed
    1. Diabetes Care. 2008 May;31(5):980-1 - PubMed
    1. Exp Neurol. 2005 Apr;192(2):444-62 - PubMed
    1. J Biol Chem. 2004 Jul 9;279(28):29341-50 - PubMed
    1. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Sep 13;159(16):1931-7 - PubMed

Publication types