Figure 1.

Crosstalk between autophagy, apoptosis, and proinflammatory cytokines during neuropathic pain formation. Autophagy plays an important role in inflammation and proinflammatory cytokine regulation. Furthermore, proinflammatory cytokines directly influence apoptosis in non-neuronal cells and probably neurons of the central nervous system. The crosstalk or interaction of autophagy and apoptosis in neuropathic pain formation occurs mainly through the modulation of proinflammatory cytokines. (Blue lines: activation; Red lines: inhibition).