Therapeutic potential of group III metabotropic glutamate receptor ligands in pain

• Pain is one of the most common symptoms in clinical medicine.
• Glutamate is the main neurotransmitter involved in pain transmission.
• Metabotropic glutamate receptors modulate transmission all along the pain neuraxis.
• Group III mGluRs may represent promising targets for the treatment of chronic pain symptoms.

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) modulate neurotransmission all along the pain neuraxis. While the involvement of group I and group II mGluRs in pain is well documented, information has only just started to emerge concerning the role and contribution of group III mGluRs subtypes to pain modulation. Recent data suggest that these receptors reduce symptoms in animal models of chronic pain, as well as regulate neurotransmission at different levels of ascending and descending pain pathway, suggesting that group III mGluRs may be interesting therapeutic targets for the development of analgesics.