NMDA Receptor Activation Underlies the Loss of Spinal Dorsal Horn Neurons and the Transition to Persistent Pain after Peripheral Nerve Injury (Cell Reports)

Dorsal horn neurons process somatosensory information, including pain. Inquimbert et al. utilized spatially restricted Grin1 knockout to show that NMDA-receptor-mediated excitatory input causes the degeneration of some dorsal horn neurons after nerve injury. Irreversible loss of GABAergic interneurons leads to a deficit in inhibition that promotes persistent pain hypersensitivity.