Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Processing: The Somatosensory System

The research field of somatosensory processing in mammals has experienced revolutionary changes in recent years. Accumulation of basic and clinical data has greatly accelerated, and new phenomena have emerged. With the aid of new, refined methods, molecular and cellular changes have been described, underlying the signal transduction-transmission between the internal/external environment and the central nervous system have been described. The discovery of the interaction between the nervous and the immune system has, for example changed our view on the development of inflammatory diseases, while the cloning of genes encoding different trophic factors has boosted studies revealing profound changes in the regeneration of neurons, and induction of changes in phenotype. The study of the pre-and postsynaptic modulation of transmitter release, and the examination of the combined effects of amino acid and peptide transmitters has become recently possible by using cultured cell lines and in vitro techniques. Although it is in embryonic state, computational properties of single DRG cells under normal and pathological conditions are being investigated. Results soon or later will have a great impact on pain research and consequently ultimately in clinical pain management. This brief introduction indicates how our knowledge of the somatosensory system has increased dramatically recently. However, many investigators cultivate only a very specific field in the growing area of somatosensory research and find it difficult to integrate a more universal knowledge of their work.