Publications by authors named "Andi Wanghzou"

Injury responses require communication between different cell types in the skin. Sensory neurons contribute to inflammation and can secrete signaling molecules that affect non-neuronal cells. Despite the pervasive role of translational regulation in nociception, the contribution of activity-dependent protein synthesis to inflammation is not well understood.

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Translational regulation permeates neuronal function. Nociceptors are sensory neurons responsible for the detection of harmful stimuli. Changes in their activity, termed plasticity, are intimately linked to the persistence of pain.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Nociceptors in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) detect harmful stimuli for the head and body, playing a key role in chronic pain, but have distinct developmental and functional differences.
  • - Recent research used a method called translating ribosome affinity purification to analyze mRNA translation in TG and DRG nociceptors, revealing notable differences in translational efficiency for genes related to pain signaling pathways, specifically involving the mTOR pathway.
  • - Behavioral tests showed that capsaicin increased pain responses in TG nociceptors more than in DRG, and this response could be reversed with mTOR inhibition, highlighting the differences in how these nociceptors react
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Nociceptors, sensory neurons in the DRG that detect damaging or potentially damaging stimuli, are key drivers of neuropathic pain. Injury to these neurons causes activation of translation regulation signaling, including the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) and mitogen-activated protein kinase interacting kinase (MNK) eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4E pathways. This is a mechanism driving changes in excitability of nociceptors that is critical for the generation of chronic pain states; however, the mRNAs that are translated to lead to this plasticity have not been elucidated.

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