Transient receptor potential channels sensitive to vanilloids (TRPVs) are group of ion channels which are sensitive to various tissue damaging signals and their activation is generally perceived as pain. Therefore, they are generally named as nociceptors. Understanding their activation and function as well as their interaction with intracellular pathways is crucial for the development of pharmacological interference in order to reduce pain perception. The current review summarizes basic facts in regard to TRPV and discusses their relevance in the sensing of (pain-) signals and their intracellular processing, focussing on their modulation of the intracellular calcium ([Ca(2+)]i) signal. Furthermore we discuss the basic mechanisms how the modification of [Ca(2+)]i through TRPV might induce long-term-potentiation (LTP) or long-term- depression (LTD) and from "memories" of pain. Understanding of these mechanisms is needed to localize the best point of interference for pharmacological treatment. Therefore, high attention is given to highlight physiological and pathological processes and their interaction with significant modulators and their roles in neuroplasticity and pain modulation.

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Faculty of Pharmacy Comenius University Bratislava Slovak Republic; Laboratory of Structural Biology and Proteomics Faculty of Pharmacy University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Czech Republic; 2 Department of Internal Medicine Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Division of Clinical Nutrition Faculty of Home Economics Kyoritsu Women's University Tokyo Japan

Faculty of Military Health Sciences University of Defence Hradec Kralove Czech Republic

Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology 1 P Pavlov Institute of Physiology Russian Academy of Sciences St Petersburg Russia

Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar Qatar Foundation Education City Doha Qatar

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