Papers of the Week

Paracetamol has been found to alleviate inflammatory pain by modulating K7 channels. Its metabolite N-acetyl-4-benzoquinoneimine (NAPQI) increases currents through these channels via a stretch of three cysteine residues in the channel S2-S3 linker. Through this effect, the excitability of neurons in the pain pathway is dampened. Inflammatory mediators, in turn, enhance the excitability of sensory neurons by inhibiting K7 channels. Here, a specific interaction between NAPQI and the so-called inflammatory soup was investigated.