Neuropathic pain has a profound social and economic impact on society. A particularly active area of research into the mechanisms that contribute to the transition from acute to chronic pain following injury and diseases of the somatosensory system focuses on the interactions between neurons and immune cells in both the central and peripheral nervous system. Molecular interactions among microglia and spinal dorsal horn neurons contribute to the induction and maintenance of injury-induced neuropathic pain. Notably, a spinal microglia subset population involved in remitting and relapsing neuropathic pain has been identified. However, current clinical studies have failed to demonstrate the efficacy of microglia inhibitors on neuropathic pain, in part due to sexual dimorphism in microglial contribution.

As microglia-independent neuropathic pain has been increasingly observed, emerging evidence supports that reciprocal interactions between tissue macrophages and nociceptors can either promote or attenuate both evoked and spontaneous neuropathic pain behaviors. Moreover, it has been reported that macrophages modulate cutaneous sensory neurons and alter acute nociceptive thresholds. Thus, a better understanding of the underlying pathways in both microglia and macrophages, will provide new information concerning the mechanism through which nerve injury contributes to the transition from acute to persistent neuropathic pain. Targeting the neuroinflammation through modulating microglia and tissue macrophages could be of therapeutic benefit in treating refractory inflammatory and neuropathic pain condition.

This Research Topic accepts Original Research, Systematic Review, Methods, Review and Mini-Review, Clinical Trial, Perspective, General Commentary, Opinion. We welcome manuscripts focusing on, but not limited to, the following sub-topics:

• Contribution of microglia in acute and chronic pain
• Contribution of tissue macrophages in acute and chronic pain
• Interaction between microglia and tissue macrophages with neurons in acute and chronic pain
• Mechanisms of microglia and/or tissue macrophage proliferation
• Transcriptomic and proteinomic profiling on microglia and/or tissue macrophage after peripheral nerve injury
• Contribution of microglia and tissue macrophages in clinical pain patients
• Neuroimaging study of microglia and tissue macrophages in preclinical and clinical pain.

The Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

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Frontiers in Immunology

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