Transient Receptor Potential Channel M8 and its Implications in Pain

摘要

Although the term thermoreceptor has been used in the literatures for more than a ce-ntury，onlyrecently have molecular identities of thermoreceptors been specified andcloned from thermosensitiveneurons in the dorsal root ganglions（DRGs) and trigemina-l ganglions（TGs). The first clonedthermoreceptor is capsaicin VR1 receptor1,2，a c-ation channel that can be activated by both capsaicinand noxious heat（>43℃). VR1receptor，also know as TRPV1，is a member of the family oftransient receptor potenti-al ion channels3. Three other members，TRPV2，TRPV3，and TRPV4，havesubsequently be-en cloned and found to be thermoreceptors for stimuli in the warm to hot range4-7.Three other members，TRPV2，TRPV3，and TRPV4，havesubsequently be-en cloned and found to be thermoreceptors for stimuli in the warm to hot range4-7。