The underlying mechanisms of chronic pain: From basic to clinical

With development of clinical pain medicine, how to build the scientific knowledge system of pain medicine is an urgent problem on one hand. On the other hand, how to translate the basic research breakthrough and trends to clinicians is also an important work of basic researchers. In the current review, we would like to introduce generally how chronic pain is developed and maintained at the peripheral and the spinal levels— peripheral sensitization and central sensitization, in particular. Moreover, although less is known about the brain mechanisms of chronic pain and its mental comorbidities(such as anxiety, insomnia, and depression, etc.), the brain matrix(network) of pain is also introduced. Hopefully, this review can result in resonating effects on our clinical colleagues and promote collaborations between basic and clinical sides.