A recent study in Nature Metabolism uncovers a mechanism for pain sensitization that involves a regulatory protein of glycogen metabolism in spinal astrocytes. Targeting this protein, or the lactate fluxes linked to glycogen breakdown, may provide novel opportunities for pain management.
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Acknowledgements
The author thanks W. E. Sonntag for helpful comments on the manuscript. Research in the author’s laboratory is supported in part by NIGMS/NIH 5P20GM125528-04 from the Cellular and Molecular GeroScience CoBRE, and the 2022 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and American Federation for Aging Research Grant for Junior Faculty. The funders had no role in the preparation or the decision to publish this work.
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Díaz-García, C.M. Glycogen from spinal astrocytes dials up the pain. Nat Metab 6, 384–386 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01000-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01000-3