BDNF and Pain: Thus, BDNF can actually behave as a switch by promoting an autocrine action in microglial cells, which may lead to their sustained activation, as occurs in spinal cord cells during neuropathic pain [17]: in this disease, BDNF exacerbates pain hypersensitivity, and strategies to prevent BDNF-mediated microgliosis are considered to have therapeutic potential [18,40].