Neuropathic and inflammatory pain increases glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic current on adult rat spinal dorsal horn neurons.

Background; Chronic pain is characterized by abnormal sensitivity to normal stimulation coupled with a feeling of unpleasantness. This condition afflicts people worldwide and severely impacts their quality of life and has become an escalating health problem. Two major models are used to study chronic pain in animals, including nerve injury and the injection of a complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into the hind paw. However, how these models induce glutamatergic synaptic plasticity in the spinal cord is not fully understood.