Chronic pain is a common issue affecting millions of people worldwide, but why some people are more prone to it and what factors lead to chronic pain are not fully understood. This process is called ‘pain wind-up’ and contributes to clinical pain disorders. The researchers then undertook a series of experiments in mice, to understand how NCX3 regulates pain wind-up and whether it may be a treatment target. NCX3 was expressed in the mouse spinal cord neurons that process and transmit pain signals to the brain. In the absence of NCX3 the spinal cord neurons showed more activity in response to injury signals from the periphery and pain wind-up was increased.
