Mol Pain
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Resveratrol, a component of red wine, has been reported to decrease prostaglandin E2 production by inhibiting the cyclooxygenase-2 cascade and to modulate various voltage-dependent ion channels, suggesting that resveratrol could attenuate inflammatory hyperalgesia. However, the effects of resveratrol on inflammation-induced hyperexcitability of nociceptive neurons in vivo remain to be determined. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine whether daily systemic administration of resveratrol to rats attenuates the inflammation-induced hyperexcitability of spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis wide-dynamic range neurons associated with hyperalgesia. ⋯ These results suggest that chronic administration of resveratrol attenuates inflammation-induced mechanical inflammatory hyperalgesia and that this effect is due primarily to the suppression of spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis wide dynamic range neuron hyperexcitability via inhibition of both peripheral and central cyclooxygenase-2 cascade signaling pathways. These findings support the idea of resveratrol as a potential complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of trigeminal inflammatory hyperalgesia without side effects.
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A growing body of evidence suggests that ATP-gated P2X3 receptors (P2X3Rs) are implicated in chronic pain. We address the possibility that stable, synthetic analogs of diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) might induce antinociceptive effects by inhibiting P2X3Rs in peripheral sensory neurons. ⋯ Stable, synthetic Ap4A analogs (AppNHppA and AppCH2ppA) being weak partial agonist provoke potent high-affinity desensitization-mediated inhibition of homomeric P2X3Rs at low concentrations. Therefore, both analogs demonstrate clear potential as potent analgesic agents for use in the management of chronic pain associated with heightened P2X3R activation.
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Chronic itch (pruritus) is an important clinical problem. However, the underlying molecular basis has yet to be understood. The Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 channel is a heat-sensitive cation channel expressed in primary sensory neurons and involved in both thermosensation and pain, but its role in chronic itch remains elusive. ⋯ As a functional correlates of this neuronal expansion, we observed an enhanced neuronal responsiveness to capsaicin under the dry skin conditions. Importantly, the neuronal hypersensitivity to capsaicin results in itch, rather than pain sensation, suggesting that the up-regulated Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 underlies the pain-to-itch switch under chronic itchy conditions. The study shows that there are different mechanisms of chronic pain and itching, and Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 plays an important role in chronic itch.
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Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its receptors are present in the spinal dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglia, suggesting an important role of PACAP-PACAP receptors signaling system in the modulation of spinal nociceptive transmission. We have previously reported that a single intrathecal injection of PACAP or a PACAP specific (PAC1) receptor selective agonist, maxadilan, in mice induced dose-dependent aversive behaviors, which lasted more than 30 min, and suggested that the maintenance of the nociceptive behaviors was associated with the spinal astrocytic activation. ⋯ Our data suggest that spinal astrocytic activation triggered by the PAC1 receptor stimulation contributes to both induction and maintenance of the long-term mechanical allodynia.
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Persistently active PKMζ has been implicated in maintaining spinal nociceptive sensitization that underlies pain hypersensitivity. However, evidence for PKMζ in the maintenance of pain hypersensitivity comes exclusively from short-term studies in males using pharmacological agents of questionable selectivity. The present study examines the contribution of PKMζ to long-lasting allodynia associated with neuropathic, inflammatory, or referred visceral and muscle pain in males and females using pharmacological inhibition or genetic ablation. ⋯ We show pharmacological inhibition and genetic ablation of PKMζ consistently attenuate long-lasting pain hypersensitivity. However, differential effects in models of referred versus inflammatory and neuropathic pain, and in males versus females, highlight the roles of afferent input-dependent masking and sex differences in the maintenance of pain hypersensitivity.