The role of ionotropic purinergic receptors (P2X) in mediating plasticity responses in the central nervous system

The past few years have witnessed increasing interest in the field of purinergic signalling and have recognised ATP as an extracellular messenger eliciting a wide array of physi ological effects in several different tissues. These effects range from simple biological events such as neurotransmission, secretion and vasodilatation, complex biological phenomena such as development, cell death and regeneration. Purinergic actions are mediated by specific receptors, either for purine nucleotides (P2 receptors for ATP), or for purine nucleosides (P1 receptors for adenosine). The present review will discuss the involvement of purinoceptors (particularly P2X subtypes) in the CNS reaction to epigenetic insults. After briefly reviewing in vitro data, we will describe recently obtained results demonstrating modulation of the P2X receptor subunits following CNS damage in in vivo models. In addition, the role of P2X receptor in neural plasticity and in neuronal responses to damage will be discussed.