The concept of conventional treatments is to block or weaken nerve transmission, and side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, and dependence have been recognized.Therefore, a new therapeutic target that avoids these side effects and exerts an analgesic effect has been desired.

　This time, a research group at the Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University has found that in rats with neuropathic pain, FLRT3 protein is increased in the "dorsal horn of the spinal cord," which modifies pain information from the periphery and transmits it to the center. , I found that this was the cause of the pain.At the same time, it was also found that suppression of FLRT3 has a long-lasting analgesic effect.

　Nerve damage causes reorganization of neural circuits in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, causing nerve cells to become overexcited.The amplification of pain information due to this nerve excitement is considered to be a major cause of neuropathic pain.

　This research group found that the expression of FLRT3 was increased in the neuropathic pain model rat, and examined whether FLRT3 causes pain.Administration of FLRT3 into the spinal cord of rats caused abnormal activation of nerve cells in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, resulting in hyperalgesia, which caused pain even with mild stimuli that were not recognized as pain in normal rats.Therefore, we conducted an experiment to suppress the function and expression of FLRT3 in a neuropathic pain model rat, and found that a sustained analgesic effect was brought about.

　From the above, it was clarified that FLRT3 induces neuropathic pain via nerve excitement, and that administration of FLRT3 antibody has an analgesic effect.In the future, by targeting FLRT3, it is expected that new analgesics that are both effective and safe will be created.

Paper information:[Journal of Neuroscience] Increased expression of fibronectin leucine-rich transmembrane protein 3 in the dorsal root ganglion induces neuropathic pain in rats