Project description:Pain is the leading cause of disability in the developed world but remains a poorly treated condition. Specifically, post-surgical pain continues to be a frequent and undermanaged condition. Here, we investigate the analgesic potential of pharmacological NaV1.7 inhibition in a mouse model of acute post-surgical pain, based on incision of the plantar skin and underlying muscle of the hind paw. We demonstrate that local and systemic treatment with the selective NaV1.7 inhibitor μ-theraphotoxin-Pn3a is effectively anti-allodynic in this model and completely reverses mechanical hypersensitivity in the absence of motor adverse effects. In addition, the selective NaV1.7 inhibitors ProTx-II and PF-04856264 as well as the clinical candidate CNV1014802 also reduced mechanical allodynia. Interestingly, co-administration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone completely reversed analgesic effects of Pn3a, indicating an involvement of endogenous opioids in the analgesic activity of Pn3a. Additionally, we found super-additive antinociceptive effects of sub-therapeutic Pn3a doses not only with the opioid oxycodone but also with the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen. Transcriptomic analysis of gene expression changes in dorsal root ganglia of mice post-surgery revealed decreased expression of several pro-nociceptive genes including N- and P/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channels important for neurotransmitter release, which suggest a reactive compensatory mechanism to reduce excessive pain similar to the endogenous opioid system. In summary, these findings suggest that pain after surgery can be successfully treated with NaV1.7 inhibitors alone or in combination with baclofen or opioids, which may present a novel and safe treatment strategy for this frequent and poorly managed condition.
Project description:Post-surgical pain causes significant suffering. Extracts of the human amniotic membrane (AM) may be novel regenerative matrices, but little is known about their use in pain treatment. Locally applying FLO (particulates of AM) in mice acutely attenuated post-surgical pain hypersensitivity and inhibited its transition to a prolonged state after plantar-incision. Mechanistically, this was achieved through direct nociceptive neuronal inhibition via CD44-dependent mechanisms and indirect anti-pain effect by attenuating immune cell recruitment and promoting wound healing. We purified heavy chain-hyaluronic acid/pentraxin 3 (HC-HA/PTX3) from human AM as a major bioactive matrix component for pain relief, as it mirrored FLO-induced analgesia and nociceptive neuronal inhibition. Strikingly, HC-HA/PTX3 triggered acute cytoskeleton rearrangement to inhibit ion channels on nociceptive neurons, presenting a novel cellular mechanism for pain control. Moreover, long-term drug treatment broadly changed neuronal gene expression. Our study demonstrated the potential and mechanisms of a naturally occurring biologic from human birth tissues as non-opioid treatments for post-surgical pain.
Project description:Background: The skeletal system ranks as the third most common site for cancer metastasis, often leading to pain with nociceptive and neuropathic features. PD-1-targeting therapeutic antibodies offer effective cancer treatment but can cause treatment-related acute pain. Understanding the mechanisms of this pain and identifying potential interventions is still a challenge. Methods: A murine model of bone cancer pain was established using Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells, followed by intravenous administration of nivolumab, a human anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody. Pain thresholds were measured, and micro-CT images of the skeletal system were obtained. High-throughput sequencing of the spinal cord/colon transcriptome during the acute phase of bone cancer pain and gut microbiota analysis were performed. Immunofluorescence staining and western blot experiments assessed spinal cord microglia activation and acute pain-associated molecules. Results: PD-1 inhibition with nivolumab protected against bone degradation initiated by LLC cell administration but consistently induced acute pain during nivolumab treatment. Spinal cord and colon transcriptomics revealed an immunopathological pattern during tumor progression and the acute pain phase, with notable changes in interleukin and S100 gene families. Gut microbiota analysis post-immunotherapy showed a decline in beneficial bacteria associated with SCFA production. Activation of spinal cord microglia and enhanced glycolytic metabolism were confirmed as key factors in inducing acute pain following immunotherapy. Conclusions: This study reveals that nivolumab induces acute pain by activating microglia and enhancing glycolytic metabolism in the treatment of bone cancer and uncovers connections between transcriptomic changes, gut microbiota, and acute pain following ICB treatment. It offers novel insights into the relationship between immune checkpoint blockade therapies and pain management.
Project description:Neuropathic pain is an apparently spontaneous experience triggered by abnormal physiology of the peripheral or central nervous system, which evolves with time. Neuropathic pain arising from peripheral nerve injury is characterized by a combination of spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia and allodynia. There is no evidence of this type of pain in human infants or rat pups; brachial plexus avulsion, which causes intense neuropathic pain in adults, is not painful when the injury is sustained at birth. Since infants are capable of nociception from before birth and display both acute and chronic inflammatory pain behaviour from an early neonatal age, it appears that the mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain are differentially regulated over a prolonged postnatal period. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying the differences in nerve injury between along the postnatal development and identified distinct classes of regulated genes during the injury Experiment Overall Design: We have performed a microarray analysis of the rat L4/L5 dorsal root ganglia, 7 days post spared nerve injury, a model of neuropathic pain. Genes that are regulated in adult rats displaying neuropathic behaviour were compared to those regulated in young rats (10 days old) that did not show the same neuropathic behaviour.
Project description:Objective – Following destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM), mice develop experimental osteoarthritis (OA) and associated pain behaviors that are dependent on the stage of disease. We aimed to describe changes in gene expression in knee-innervating dorsal root ganglia (DRG) after surgery, in order to identify molecular pathways associated with three pre-defined pain phenotypes: “post-surgical pain”, “early-stage OA pain”, and “persistent OA pain”. Design – We performed DMM or sham surgery in 10-week old male C57BL/6 mice and harvested L3-L5 DRG 4, 8, and 16 weeks after surgery or from age-matched naïve mice (n=3/group). RNA was extracted and an Affymetrix Mouse Transcriptome Array 1.0 was performed. Three pain phenotypes were defined: “post-surgical pain” (sham and DMM 4-week vs. 14-week old naïve), “early OA pain” (DMM 4-week vs. sham 4-week), and “persistent OA pain” (DMM 8- and 16-week vs. naïve and sham 8- and 16-week). ‘Top hit’ genes were defined as p<0.001. Pathway analysis (Ingenuity Pathway Analysis) was conducted using differentially expressed genes defined as p<0.05. In addition, we performed qPCR for Ngf and immunohistochemistry for F4/80+ macrophages in the DRG. Results – For each phenotype, top hit genes identified a small number of differentially expressed genes, some of which have been previously associated with pain (7/67 for “post-surgical pain”; 2/14 for “early OA pain”; 8/37 for “persistent OA pain”). Overlap between groups was limited, with 8 genes differentially regulated (p<0.05) in all three phenotypes. Pathway analysis showed that in the persistent OA pain phase many of the functions of differentially regulated genes are related to immune cell recruitment and activation. Genes previously linked to OA pain (CX3CL1, CCL2, TLR1, and NGF) were upregulated in this phenotype and contributed to activation of the neuroinflammation canonical pathway. In separate sets of mice, we confirmed that Ngf was elevated in the DRG 8 weeks after DMM (p=0.03), and numbers of F4/80+ macrophages were increased 16 weeks after DMM (p=0.002 vs. Sham). Conclusion- These transcriptomics findings support the idea that distinct molecular pathways discriminate early from persistent OA pain. Pathway analysis suggests neuroimmune interactions in the DRG contribute to initiation and maintenance of pain in OA. We grouped samples based on pain phenotype in the DMM mouse model of osteoarthritis. Group 1: post-surgical pain (DMM and sham +4 week samples); Group 2: post-surgical control (Naïve +4 week samples); Group 3: Early osteoarthritis pain (DMM +4 week samples); Group 4: Early controls (sham+4 and naive+4 week samples); Group 5: Persistent pain (DMM+8 and DMM+16 week samples); Group 6: Persistent controls (sham+8, naive+8, sham+16, and naive +16 samples). We compared Group 1 vs Group 2; Group 3 vs Group 4; and Group 5 vs Group 6 to draw the conclusions presented in our manuscript.
Project description:This program addresses the gene signature associated with DRG in the Chung rat model for neuropathic pain. The Chung neuropathic pain profiling data was analyzed by identifying genes that were up- and down-regulated at selected p value and fold change in DRG of the Sprague Dawley rats following spinal nerve ligation compared to the sham-operated controls.
Project description:This program aims at identifying a skin gene signature associated with inflammation pain in rat CGN model The profiling data was analyzed by identifying genes that were up- and down-regulated at selected p value and fold change in the skin of rats treated with CGN (to induce pain) compared to the corresponding non-treated controls.
Project description:Abdominal surgeries are lifesaving procedures but can be complicated by the formation of peritoneal adhesions, intra-abdominal scars that cause intestinal obstruction, pain, infertility, and significant health costs. Despite this burden, the mechanisms underlying adhesion formation remain unclear and no cure exists. Here, we show that contamination of gut microbes increases post-surgical adhesion formation. Using genetic lineage tracing we show that adhesion myofibroblasts arose from the mesothelium. This transformation was driven by epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. The EGFR ligands Amphiregulin and Heparin-binding Epidermal Growth Factor, were sufficient to induce these changes. Correspondingly, EGFR inhibition led to a significant reduction of adhesion formation in mice. Adhesions isolated from human patients were enriched in EGFR positive cells of mesothelial origin and human mesothelium showed an increase of mesothelial EGFR expression during bacterial peritonitis. In conclusion, bacterial contamination drives adhesion formation through mesothelial EGFR signaling. This mechanism may represent a therapeutic target for the prevention of adhesions after intra-abdominal surgery.
Project description:Gout is a prevalent and painful inflammatory arthritis, and its global burden continues to rise. Intense pain induced by gout attacks is a major complication of gout. Treatment and long-term management for gout patients remain challenging. Despite the discovery of many key immune response and inflammatory genes and pathways in gout, the molecular mechanisms of gout inflammation are still not entirely elucidated. Particularly, systematic studies of gout inflammation and pain are lacking. Using a monosodium urate (MSU) crystals-induced gout model, we performed genome-wide transcriptome analysis for the ankle joint, dorsal root ganglion (DRG), and spinal cord of gout mice. Our results revealed transcriptional changes in both the joint and the nervous system. Furthermore, through integrated analysis with public datasets of mouse inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain models, human GWAS, osteoarthritis (OA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we identified common and unique features associated with acute gout inflammation and severe pain.