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Neuroinflammation: How it causes Chronic Pain

What is neuroinflammation and why does it cause severe burning pain even when there seems to be no injury?

Let me explain it as simply as I can. Say you sprain your ankle. Your ankle then hurts, swells, discolors, and the pain limits use. The swelling occurs because of “healing” chemicals that move into the affected area and work to repair any damage.

In a typical person, this process is successful and the healing chemicals trigger another set of chemicals to take the healing chemicals away. The swelling and discoloration go away and the person doesn’t have any additional issues healing from that trauma.Neuroinflammation

But sometimes the healing process doesn’t work correctly and the neuroinflammation becomes chronic, activating glial cells in our spine and brain. This poor healing process changes your spine and brain in ways that essentially leave your pain signals turned on.

Glial cells are small nerve cell that fire off about every two minutes looking for any threats to the body. This is part of your fight or flight system. They are non-neuronal cells that maintain homeostasis, form myelin, and provide support and protection for the brain’s neurons. Glia is a Greek word meaning glue.

In the human brain, there is roughly one glia for every neuron, with a ratio of about two neurons for every three glia in the cerebral gray matter, according to the research article, Equal Numbers of Neuronal and Nonneuronal Cells Make the Human Brain an Isometrically Scaled-Up Primate Brain.”

The four main functions of glial cells are to surround neurons and hold them in place; supply nutrients and oxygen to neurons; insulate one neuron from another; and to destroy pathogens and remove dead neurons. They also modulate neurotransmission, according to the “D-amino acids in the brain: d-serine in neurotransmission and neurodegeneration” research paper. Therefore, glia is a lot more than just the “glue” of the nervous system.

By Barby Ingle, Columnist

06/28/2016

Continue reading the full article from Pain News Network here.

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