Xavier Rovira member of the TR2Lab has received the award for Research in Pain 2016 by the Grünenthal Foundation and the Extraordinary Chair of Pain “Grünenthal Foundation” in the University of Salamanca. This award recognizes the most innovative projects on pain, both epidemiologically as experimental, pharmacological and clinical.

In this XVII edition, in the category of Basic Research, the jury awarded the study “Dynamic modulation of inflammatory pain-related affective and sensory symptoms by optical control of amygdala metabotropic glutamate receptor 4”. This is a collaborative project of different laboratories at European scale that will allow defining new interventions, more accurate and effective therapies for treating chronic pain. Xavier Rovira explained that the initial goal of the study was to validate one type of neuronal receptor, the metabotropic glutamate 4 receptors (mGlu4), as a potential therapeutic target for chronic pain.

Xavier Rovira said:

“It has been discovered that the activation of mGlu4 receptors is able to quickly alleviate some of the physical and emotional symptoms related to persistent pain,”.

“We have been able to control the activity of this receptor in a very small area of the brain using an optical fiber. Thus, laboratory mice that show symptoms similar to those that appear in patients with chronic pain, ceased to feel it depending on whether the light that illuminated his brain was green or violet, “

This study will open new avenues of research that will help understand how pain is transmitted, allowing new forms of treatment to be found. In addition, Xavier Rovira adds that the team will work to improve the properties of these molecules sensitive to light as well as new receptors with the potential to reduce pain.

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