Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32351366›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in cellular neuroscience2020

Pregabalin as a Pain Therapeutic: Beyond Calcium Channels.

Sascha R A Alles, Stuart M Cain, Terrance P Snutch

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
61citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
5.3field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

61 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Trial
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  7. Article
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  13. Peptide-Based Approaches for Pain Relief and Healing in Wounds.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Management strategies for burning mouth syndrome: a comprehensive review.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2026
    Review
  19. Article
  20. Article

1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Sascha R A AllesMichael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Stuart M CainMichael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Terrance P SnutchMichael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
University of British Columbia · CACanada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Initially developed to generate new treatments for epilepsy, gabapentin, and pregabalin ("gabapentinoids") were engineered to mimic the action of GABA and to modulate GABA metabolism. Rather than their intended pharmacological action on GABA neurotransmission, instead, they exhibit a high affinity for the α2δ-1 and α2δ-2 subunits of voltage-activated calcium channels, wherein binding of gabapentinoids inhibits cellular calcium influx and attenuates neurotransmission. Despite a lack of activity on GABA levels, gabapentin and pregabalin are effective at suppressing seizures and subsequently approved as a new class of antiepileptic therapy for partial-onset epilepsy. Through the same hypothesized molecular mechanism and by controlling neuronal hyperexcitability, gabapentinoids demonstrate clear efficacy in pain management, which has arguably been their most extensively prescribed application to date. In this review, we focus on pregabalin as a second-generation gabapentinoid widely employed in the treatment of a variety of pain conditions. We also discuss the wider functional roles of α2δ subunits and the contributions that pregabalin might play in affecting physiological and pathophysiological processes.

Indexed as

calcium channelchronic painhyperexcitabilitypregabalin (PGB)therapeutic targets

Identifiers

PMID32351366
PMCPMC7174704
OpenAlexW3017174797

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.