{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,29]],"date-time":"2026-08-29T07:07:12Z","timestamp":1787987232382,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773187200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Association of Migraine Disorders, NIH","award":["DE018661"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DE018661"]}]},{"name":"Association of Migraine Disorders, NIH","award":["DE023090"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DE023090"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The maxillary sinus is frequently implicated in facial pain syndromes arising from infection, neoplasia, dental procedures, and, importantly, migraine, which can mimic \u201csinus headache\u201d and contribute to misdiagnosis and inappropriate antibiotic use. Despite the clinical burden of chronic maxillary sinus pain, the sensory neuron subtypes that convey nociceptive and mechanosensory signals from the sinus mucosa remain incompletely defined. In this study, trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons innervating the maxillary sinus (maxillary sinus TG neurons) were retrogradely labeled with the fluorescent dye DiD in mice and characterized using ex vivo patch-clamp electrophysiology and single-cell RT-PCR. Maxillary sinus TG neurons were found to be predominantly small-diameter, C-afferent nociceptors with electrophysiologic features including high thresholds, repetitive firing, and broad action potentials. Notably, maxillary sinus TG neurons formed a distinct molecular and functional subgroup: they expressed Nav1.9, while showing minimal Nav1.8 expression and limited overlap with Nav1.8-positive nociceptor populations. A majority of maxillary sinus TG neurons were mechanically responsive, generating mechanically activated currents with heterogeneous adaptation profiles, and a subset expressed the mechanoreceptor Piezo2. Collectively, these findings identify maxillary sinus TG neurons as a specialized population of Nav1.9-enriched C-afferent nociceptors with mechanosensitive properties, providing a mechanistic framework for pressure-evoked sinus pain. This work advances the neurobiological basis of sinus-related pain and suggests that Nav1.9 and mechanoreceptor pathways may be potential therapeutic targets for conditions in which sinus symptoms overlap with migraine and other craniofacial pain disorders.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27062565","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]],"date-time":"2026-03-11T09:00:37Z","timestamp":1773219637000},"page":"2565","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Electrophysiological Properties and Mechanical Sensitivity of Trigeminal Ganglionic Neurons That Innervate the Maxillary Sinus in Mice"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Saurav","family":"Gupta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amit Raj","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Ling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frederick","family":"Godley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Otolaryngology, Providence, RI 02905, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8404-9850","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jianguo","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Lafci Fahrioglu, S., VanKampen, N., and Andaloro, C. 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