AI Summary
Deng et al. demonstrate that Nav1.7 is crucial for initiating action potentials in nociceptors, leading to pain sensation, and blocking or inhibiting Nav1.7 can result in analgesia. The study suggests that enkephalin overexpression has a limited role, if any, in the analgesia observed in Nav1.7 knockout mice.
Deng et al. show that genetic removal or selective inhibition of Nav1.7 blocks nociceptor action potentials, highlighting the essential role Nav1.7 plays in initiating such APs and explaining the resulting analgesia. Enkephalin overexpression, previously thought to drive analgesia in Nav1.7 knockout mice, was found to play a limited role, if any.