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Fig. 1 | Journal of Neuroinflammation

Fig. 1

From: The link between chronic pain and Alzheimer’s disease

Fig. 1

Illustration depicting a possible mechanism of chronic pain induced Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis through locus coeruleus (LC)-noradrenaline (NE) system dysfunction and microglial neuroinflammation. Chronic pain induces pathological activation of LC-NE system and result in an increase of NE release in brain areas such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, which could be one of the mechanisms of chronic pain-induced microglial pro-inflammatory activation. Pro-inflammatory activation may exacerbate AD pathogenesis via decreased Aβ phagocytosis, increased tau seeding, loss of synaptic function, and cytokine-induced neuron death in these brain regions

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