The Role of Ion Channels in Chronic Pain

The ion channels are there all the time. They are silent. But if pain occurs they produce the inwood current and produce activity in the pain sensitive nerves. So what's turning them on then? In inflammatory mediators such as Prostaglandin E2, a chemical that drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen act to reduce the other class of analgesics. We're hoping to develop blockers which could go into use as more effective pain killers with fewer side effects. That's the hope at least. It seems that these channels are extremely important in generating chronic pain.