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Correlational analysis for identifying genes whose regulation contributes to chronic neuropathic pain.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Nerve injury-triggered hyperexcitability in primary sensory neurons is considered a major source of chronic neuropathic pain. The hyperexcitability, in turn, is thought to be related to transcriptional switching in afferent cell somata. Analysis using expression microarrays has revealed that many genes are regulated in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) following axotomy. But which contribute to pain phenotype versus other nerve injury-evoked processes such as nerve regeneration? Using the L5 spinal nerve ligation model of neuropathy we examined differential changes in gene expression in the L5 (and L4) DRGs in five mouse strains with contrasting susceptibility to neuropathic pain. We sought genes for which the degree of regulation correlates with strain-specific pain phenotype. RESULTS: In an initial experiment six candidate genes previously identified as important in pain physiology were selected for in situ hybridization to DRG sections. Among these, regulation of the Na+ channel alpha subunit Scn11a correlated with levels of spontaneous pain behavior, and regulation of the cool receptor Trpm8 correlated with heat hypersensibility. In a larger scale experiment, mRNA extracted from individual mouse DRGs was processed on Affymetrix whole-genome expression microarrays. Overall, 2552 +/- 477 transcripts were significantly regulated in the axotomized L5DRG 3 days postoperatively. However, in only a small fraction of these was the degree of regulation correlated with pain behavior across strains. Very few genes in the "uninjured" L4DRG showed altered expression (24 +/- 28). CONCLUSION: Correlational analysis based on in situ hybridization provided evidence that differential regulation of Scn11a and Trpm8 contributes to across-strain variability in pain phenotype. This does not, of course, constitute evidence that the others are unrelated to pain. Correlational analysis based on microarray data yielded a larger "look-up table" of genes whose regulation likely contributes to pain variability. While this list is enriched in genes of potential importance for pain physiology, and is relatively free of the bias inherent in the candidate gene approach, additional steps are required to clarify which transcripts on the list are in fact of functional importance.

SUBMITTER: Persson AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2649910 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Correlational analysis for identifying genes whose regulation contributes to chronic neuropathic pain.

Persson Anna-Karin AK Gebauer Mathias M Jordan Suzana S Metz-Weidmann Christiane C Schulte Anke M AM Schneider Hans-Christoph HC Ding-Pfennigdorff Danping D Thun Jonas J Xu Xiao-Jun XJ Wiesenfeld-Hallin Zsuzsanna Z Darvasi Ariel A Fried Kaj K Devor Marshall M

Molecular pain 20090219

<h4>Background</h4>Nerve injury-triggered hyperexcitability in primary sensory neurons is considered a major source of chronic neuropathic pain. The hyperexcitability, in turn, is thought to be related to transcriptional switching in afferent cell somata. Analysis using expression microarrays has revealed that many genes are regulated in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) following axotomy. But which contribute to pain phenotype versus other nerve injury-evoked processes such as nerve regeneration? ...[more]

PMID: 19228393

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Project description:Piwi-Interacting RNA (piRNA) is the largest class of small noncoding RNA and is involved in various physiological and pathological processes. However, whether it has a role in pain modulation remains unknown. In the present study, we found that spinal piRNA-DQ541777 (piR-DQ541777) was significantly increased in the male mouse model of sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI)-induced neuropathic pain. Knockdown of spinal piR-DQ541777 alleviated CCI-induced thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia and spinal neuronal sensitization. However, the overexpression of spinal piR-DQ541777 in naive mice produced pain behaviors and increased spinal neuron sensitization. Furthermore, we found that piR-DQ541777 regulates pain behaviors by targeting CDK5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 1 (Cdk5rap1). CCI increased the methylation level of CpG islands in the cdk5rap1 promoter and consequently reduced the expression of Cdk5rap1, which was reversed by the knockdown of piR-DQ541777 and mimicked by the overexpression of piR-DQ541777 in naive mice. Finally, piR-DQ541777 increased the methylation level of CpG islands by recruiting DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3a) to cdk5rap1 promoter. In conclusion, this study represents a novel role of piR-DQ541777 in the regulation of neuropathic pain through the methylation of cdk5rap1 SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Chronic pain affects ∼20% of the population of the world and is a major global public health problem. Although we have studied the neurobiological mechanism of neuropathic pain for decades, there is still no ideal drug available to treat it. This work indicates that a novel role of Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) DQ541777 in the regulation of neuropathic pain through the methylation of cdk5rap1 Our findings provide the first evidence of the regulatory effect of piRNAs on neuropathic pain, which may improve our understanding of pain mechanisms and lead to the discovery of novel drug targets for the prevention and treatment of neuropathic pain.

Dataset Information

Correlational analysis for identifying genes whose regulation contributes to chronic neuropathic pain.

Publications

Correlational analysis for identifying genes whose regulation contributes to chronic neuropathic pain.

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