Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 in animal tissues: An overview to highlight similarities and differences with human species

Abstract

The purpose of this review is to give an overview of the identification and the characterization of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) in animal tissues. TRPV1 is a receptor belonging to the superfamily of Transient Receptor potential (TRP) and it was first identified in dorsal root ganglion in 1997. After, the scientific interest on this receptor increased, and nowadays it is possible to read a huge bibliography dealing with this receptor that is considered ubiquitarian. Actually, it was identified in the majority of animal and human tissues in physiological and pathological conditions. The involvement of TRPV1 receptor is considered as a key to understand aetiopathogenic mechanisms and to try to find a therapeutic treatment. In spite of the deep knowledge on TRPV1 molecular structure, more studies are required to better understand the cascade following its activation. For all the previous mentioned reasons, TRPV1 was investigated in species of interest of Veterinary Medicine and some of them are important animal models for human medicine, especially for oncology and analgesic therapeutic strategies.