Congratulations to Gabriel Dai, Ph.D., and Lucas Handlin, Graduate Student, on having their recent paper in the Journal of General Physiology, entitled “Sequential membrane remodeling by cholesterol distinctly modulates HCN channels in naive and neuropathic DRG neurons,” highlighted in JGP Research News.
Their paper details research on the role of cholesterol on pain sensation in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Free cholesterol and cholesterol-dependent ordered membrane domains (OMDs) can affect the activity of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide gated (HCN) channels in DRG neurons. They showed that injury can cause an alteration in these cholesterol pools, leading to neuropathic pain. These findings could lead to new therapeutic treatments for neuropathic pain.
