This article sets out to describe some of the recent advances in molecular and ion changes on pain perception, especially in sodium channels, and to outline current developments in pain therapy, such as transdermal forms of the treatment of neuropathic pain and the newly introduced method of molecular biological microsurgery. Neuromodulation methods are also described, which are very efficient for different types of pain, especially for neuropathic pain. The article also takes an analytical look at psychotherapy, the placebo effect and acupuncture. Imaging techniques are bringing new insights into the pathways of pain and their localization in the brain. Other possibilities for the treatment ofpain in special situations, such as child’s pain and the pain in old age, are also looked at. The most recent research on the tetrapartite synapse is also outlined. The tetrapartite synapse plays a key role in pain transmission to which, Motto: Při současných znalostech jsme schopni snížit nebo vyléčit až 90 % všech typů chronické bolesti. in addition to neurons, the microglia and astrocyte are extremely important. Other results from the 11th World Congress on Pain in Sydney, 2005, and from the 1st Medical Congress of the Czech Medical Academy „Pain is omnipresent" in Liberec, 2006 are also mentioned.

        Key words: pain, sodium channels, tetrapartite synapsis, therapy.