• Jun-Li Cao, Jia-Ping Ruan, Di-Yang Ling, Xue-Hai Guan, Qi Bao, Yan Yuan, Li-Cai Zhang, Xue-Jun Song, and Yin-Ming Zeng.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou Jiangsu, PR China. caoj10310@163.com
• Pain. 2008 Oct 31;139(3):617-31.

AbstractEphBs receptors and ephrinBs ligands are present in the adult brain and peripheral tissue and play a critical role in modulating multiple aspects of physiology and pathophysiology. Ours and other studies have demonstrated that spinal ephrinBs/EphBs signaling was involved in the modulation of nociceptive information and central sensitization. However, the role of ephrinBs/EphBs signaling in peripheral sensitization is poorly understood. This study shows that intraplantar (i.pl.) injection of ephrinB1-Fc produces a dose- and time-dependent thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia and the increase of spinal Fos protein expression in mice, which can be partially prevented by pre-treatment with EphB1-Fc. EphrinB1-Fc-induced hyperalgesia is accompanied with the NMDA receptor-mediated increase of expression in peripheral and spinal phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinases (phospho-MAPKs) including p-p38, pERK and pJNK, and also is prevented or reversed by the inhibition of peripheral and spinal MAPKs. Furthermore, in formalin inflammation pain model, pre-inhibition of EphBs receptors by the injection of EphB1-Fc reduces pain behavior, which is accompanied by the decreased expression of peripheral p-p38, pERK and pJNK. These data provide evidence that ephrinBs may act as a prominent contributor to peripheral sensitization, and demonstrate that activation of peripheral ephrinBs/EphBs system induces hyperalgesia through a MAPKs-mediated mechanism.

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