Neuropathic pain is chronic pain originating through some malfunction of the nervous system, often triggered by an injury. It causes hypersensitivity to innocuous stimuli and is often extremely debilitating. It doesn’t respond to existing painkillers — even opioids can’t reach it well.

New research in a mouse model, described last week in Cell Reports, deconstructed neuropathic pain and could offer new leads for treating it. The carefully done study showed that two major neuropathic pain symptoms in patients — extreme touch sensitivity and extreme cold sensitivity — operate through separate pathways.

“We think this separation will allow targeted drug-based therapies in the future,” says Michael Costigan, PhD, of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was the study’s senior investigator. “If our results stand experimental scrutiny by others, this will be profoundly important in our overall understanding of neuropathic pain.” …