“…In particular, astrocyte activation in the spinal cord appears to be an important contributor to the chronic pain associated with inflammation (Ikeda et al, 2012), HIV (Shi et al, 2012), chemotherapy-induced neuropathy (Zhang et al, 2012, Ruiz-Medina et al, 2013) and tumor-induced pain (Geis et al, 2010, Yao et al, 2011, Ren et al, 2012). Activation may result in altered cell morphology, changes in receptor expression, or release of factors by glial cells, which ultimately enhance nociceptive transmission (Ren and Dubner, 2008).…”