Music Therapy and Its Role in Pain Control

Music has occupied our day-to-day life; as it is readily available, accessible and further technological advancement has made access to music a common norm. Music has been present since the very early part of human evolution and has helped in forming society and civilizations. It has served various purposes like social cohesion, emotional expressions, interpersonal communication as well as recreation. Due to its great bonding power; it is important in terms of social dynamics. Music therapy is convenient, inexpensive and user-controlled and seems to be influencing the physiological system positively if rightly used. Vast research is going on to find the right music that could be having a beneficial therapeutic effect. Music seems to affect the pain perception, modulation and also has the affective component to help positively in controlling the pain. This chapter is an attempt to evaluate the various pain modulating effects of music through a systematic music therapy intervention using the vast research work done in this field. This review is consistent to integrate the best scientific evidence for pain relief into practice, education, and research. Music being a non-pharmacologic, nontoxic intervention and is free from adverse effects and also is an inexpensive, low cost modality

DPP8/DPP9 inhibition elicits canonical Nlrp1b inflammasome hallmarks in murine macrophages

Activating germline mutations in the human inflammasome sensor NLRP1 causes palmoplantar dyskeratosis and susceptibility to Mendelian autoinflammatory diseases. Recent studies have shown that the cytosolic serine dipeptidyl peptidases DPP8 and DPP9 suppress inflammasome activation upstream of NLRP1 and CARD8 in human keratinocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of DPP8/DPP9 protease activity was shown to induce pyroptosis in murine C57BL/6 macrophages without eliciting other inflammasome hallmark responses. Here, we show that DPP8/DPP9 inhibition in macrophages that express a Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin (LeTx)–sensitive Nlrp1b allele triggered significantly accelerated pyroptosis concomitant with caspase-1 maturation, ASC speck assembly, and secretion of mature IL-1β and IL-18. Genetic ablation of ASC prevented DPP8/DPP9 inhibition-induced caspase-1 maturation and partially hampered pyroptosis and inflammasome-dependent cytokine release, whereas deletion of caspase-1 or gasdermin D triggered apoptosis in the absence of IL-1β and IL-18 secretion. In conclusion, blockade of DPP8/DPP9 protease activity triggers rapid pyroptosis and canonical inflammasome hallmarks in primary macrophages that express a LeTx-responsive Nlrp1b allele