Postgraduate medical journal
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Chronic pain is a major public health problem. Mitochondria play important roles in a myriad of cellular processes and mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in multiple neurological disorders. ⋯ Therefore, protecting mitochondrial function would be a promising strategy to alleviate or prevent chronic pain states. Related chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain models, as well as the spectral characteristics of current fluorescent probes to detect mitochondria in pain studies, are also discussed.