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Inflammatory Pain

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Encyclopedia of Neuroscience

Definition

Inflammatory pain is the perception of and affective response to noxious stimuli that occur during an inflammatory or immune response.

Characteristics

The inflammatory response represents a series of well orchestrated physiological processes that occur after injury or infection in an attempt to combat and resolve the pathology. It is characterized by five classic symptoms: redness (rubor), heat (calor), swelling (tumor), pain or hypersensitivity (dolor), and loss of function (functio lasea). Under normal conditions, inflammation is an important protective mechanism essential for wound healing. Despite this, acute inflammation produces overt pain through the direct activation of sensory neurons that conduct the pain signal (Fig. 1).

Inflammatory Pain. Figure 1
figure 915

Mechanisms for the initiation and maintenance of inflammatory pain. Inflammatory pain is initiated by activation of nociceptive sensory neurons by hot or cold thermal stimulation, by mechanical stimulation, or by...

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Vasko, M.R. (2009). Inflammatory Pain. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_2436

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