Papers of the Week

Chronic pain remains a major clinical problem and there is a critical need to develop effective therapeutics. We recently demonstrated that glutamate delta 1 receptor (GluD1) and cerebellin 1 (Cbln1) are downregulated in the central amygdala (CeA) in inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Importantly, we found that administering Cbln1 intracerebroventricularly (ICV) or in CeA once, normalizes GluD1 and reduces AMPA receptor expression resulting in lasting (7-10 days) pain relief. Unlike many CNS-targeting biologics, Cbln1 structure suggests potential blood-brain-barrier penetration. Hence, in this study we tested whether systemic administration of Cbln1 provides analgesic effect via CNS mechanism.