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:To further reveal the mechanism of neuropathic pain, we simulated neuropathic pain by constructing a chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve (CCI) model, followed by quantitative proteomic analysis of rat spinal cord cell nuclei at 1 day, 7 days and sham-operated groups after CCI. A total of 3 samples from each group were used. A total of 5039 proteins were identified in this study, of which 4469 proteins contained quantitative information. Differential proteins were defined by a threshold of change >1.3-fold and t-test p-value <0.05.v
Project description:The cholecystokinin B (2) receptor knockout (Cckbr KO) protects against allodynia induced by chronic constriction injury (CCI). The mechanism of this phenomenon is unknown, but must involve persistent changes in pain modulation and/or inflammatory pathways. We performed a gene expression study in two brain areas (midbrain and medulla) after surgical induction of CCI in Cckbr KO and wild-type (wt) control mice. The patterns of gene expression differences suggest that the immune system is activated in higher brain structures following CCI in the wt mice. The strongest differences include genes related to the MAPK pathway activation and cytokine production. In Cckbr KO mice this expressional pattern was absent. In addition, we found significant elevation of the Toll-like receptor 4 (Tlr4) in the supraspinal structures of the mice with deleted Cckbr compared to wt control mice. This up-regulation is most likely induced by the deletion of Cckbr. We suggest that there is a functional deficiency in the Tlr4 pathway which disables the development of neuropathic pain in Cckbr KO mice. Indeed, real time PCR analysis detected a CCI-induced upregulation of Tlr4 and Il1b expression in the lumbar region of wt but not Cckbr KO mice. Gene expression profiling indicates that elements of the immune response are not activated in Cckbr KO mice following CCI. Our findings suggest that there may be a role for CCK in the regulation of innate immunity. Experiment Overall Design: 32 chips altogether, 4 mutant mice sham-operated, 4 control mice sham-operated, 4 mutant mice CCI-operated, 4 control mice CCI-operated, midbarin and medulla samples from each animals
Project description:Inflammation plays a role in neuropathic pain conditions as well as in pain induced solely by an inflammatory stimulus. Robust mechanical hyperalgesia and allodynia can be induced by locally inflaming the L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in rat. This model allows investigation of the contribution of inflammation per se to chronic pain conditions. Most previous microarray studies of DRG gene expression have investigated neuropathic pain models involving axon transection. To examine the role of inflammation, we used microarray methods to examine gene expression 3 days after local inflammation of the L5 DRG in rat. We observed significant regulation in a large number of genes (23% of observed transcripts), and examined 221 (3%) with a fold-change of 1.5-fold or more in more detail. Immune-related genes were the largest category in this group and included members of the complement system as well as several pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, these upregulated cytokines had no prior links to peripheral pain in the literature other than through microarray studies, though most had previously described roles in CNS (especially neuroinflammatory conditions) as well as in immune responses. The L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) was locally inflamed with zymosan/Incomplete Freund's Adjuvant. DRG were isolated 3 days later. Each sample was RNA extracted from a single DRG. 6 samples from rats with local DRG inflammation were compared with 6 samples from sham-operated rats.
Project description:Two out-bred rat selection lines were separated to produce different hypersensitivity phenotypes following nerve injury. These lines were termed High Pain and Low Pain (HP or LP). Each sub-strain was either subject to a Sham surgery or a Spinal Nerve Ligation (SNL) surgery to the L4 and L5 spinal nerves. Three days following surgery L4/L5 Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) were dissected from these animals. For the rat line separation protocol see: Devor M, Raber P (1990) Heritability of symptoms in an experimental model of neuropathic pain. Pain 42:51-67. 12 Hybridizations, 3 per condition; Sham HP DRG; 3 day SNL HP DRG; Sham LP DRG; 3 day SNL LP DRG.
Project description:Comparison of L5 DRG gene expression profiles at day 14 from gp120+ddC treated animals vs sham (SA + saline) treated animals.<br>This experiment is part of larger study, where the expression profiles of three disparate models of neuropathic pain (SNT, VZV infection and gp120+ddC) are compared in order to find genes that are responsible for mechanical hypersensitivity formation/maintenance.
Project description:Comparison of L5 DRG gene expression profiles at day 14 from SNT treated animals vs. sham controls. This experiment is part of larger study, where the expression profiles of three disparate models of neuropathic pain (SNT, VZV infection and gp120+ddC) are compared in order to find genes that are responsible for mechanical hypersensitivity
Project description:Peripheral nerve injury alters the expression of hundreds of proteins in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Targeting some of these proteins has led to successful treatments for acute pain, but not for sustained postoperative neuropathic pain. The latter may require targeting multiple proteins. Since a single microRNA (miR) can affect the expression of multiple proteins, here, we describe an approach to identify chronic neuropathic pain-relevant miRs. We used two variants of the spared nerve injury (SNI): Sural-SNI and Tibial-SNI and found distinct pain phenotypes between the two. Both models induced strong mechanical allodynia, but only Sural-SNI rats maintained strong mechanical and cold allodynia, as previously reported. In contrast, we found that Tibial-SNI rats recovered from mechanical allodynia and never developed cold allodynia. Since both models involve nerve injury, we increased the probability of identifying differentially regulated miRs that correlated with the quality and magnitude of neuropathic pain and decreased the probability of detecting miRs that are solely involved in neuronal regeneration. We found seven such miRs in L3-L5 DRG. The expression of these miRs increased in Tibial-SNI. These miRs displayed a lower level of expression in Sural-SNI, with four having levels lower than those in sham animals. Bioinformatics analysis of how these miRs could affect the expression of some ion channels supports the view that, following a peripheral nerve injury, the increase of the 7 miRs may contribute to the recovery from neuropathic pain while the decrease of four of them may contribute to the development of chronic neuropathic pain. The approach used resulted in the identification of a small number of potentially neuropathic pain relevant miRs. Additional studies are required to investigate whether manipulating the expression of the identified miRs in primary sensory neurons can prevent or ameliorate chronic neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injuries. To identify the miRs that were differentially dysregulated between Tibial-SNI and Sural-SNI, we first performed 12 microarrays in a limited number of samples (in four individual DRGs per group: Sham, Tibial-SNI and Sural-SNI; two L3-DRG and two L4-DRG). Then, miRs identified as having differential expression were corroborated with real time qRT-PCR in RNA isolated from individual DRGs (L3, L4 and L5) derived from 4 rats per group (not presented here, but in the manuscript).
Project description:Expression profiling of L4 and L5 Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) in the spinal nerve ligation model of neuropathic pain. The goal of the study was to identify genes involved in neuropathic pain This series of samples comprises of contralateral and ipsilateral L4 and L5 DRG tissue collected 4 weeks after rats underwent a L5 spinal nerve ligation (SNL) or a sham operation with no L5 spinal nerve ligation. This defines 8 groups (i) contralateral L4 DRG from the sham cohort (n=5), (ii) ipsilateral L4 DRG from sham cohort (n=5), (iii) contralateral L4 DRG from SNL cohort (n=5), (iv) ipsilateral L4 DRG from the SNL chort (n=5), (v) contralateral L5 DRG from the sham cohort (n=5), (vi) ipsilateral L5 DRG from sham cohort (n=5), (vii) contralateral L5 DRG from SNL cohort (n=5), (viii) ipsilateral L5 DRG from the SNL cohort (n=5)
Project description:Functionally distinct subtypes/clusters of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons may play different roles in nerve regeneration and pain. However, details about their transcriptomic changes under neuropathic pain conditions remain unclear. Chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve represents a well-established model of neuropathic pain, and we conducted single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) to characterize subtype-specific perturbations of transcriptomes in lumbar DRG neurons on day 7 post-CCI. By using PirtEGFPf mice that selectively express an enhanced green fluorescent protein in DRG neurons, we established a highly efficient purification process to enrich neurons for scRNA-seq. We observed the emergence of four prominent CCI-induced clusters and a loss of marker genes in injured neurons. Importantly, a portion of injured neurons from several clusters were spared from injury-induced identity loss, suggesting subtype-specific transcriptomic changes in injured neurons. Moreover, uninjured neurons, which are necessary for mediating the evoked pain, also demonstrated cell-type-specific transcriptomic perturbations in these clusters, but not in others. Notably, male and female mice showed differential transcriptomic changes in multiple neuronal clusters after CCI, suggesting transcriptomic sexual dimorphism in DRG neurons after nerve injury. Using Fgf3 as a proof-of-principle, RNAscope study provided further evidence of increased Fgf3 in injured neurons after CCI, supporting scRNA-seq analysis, and calcium imaging study unraveled a functional role of Fgf3 in neuronal excitability. These findings may contribute to the identification of new target genes and the development of DRG neuron cell-type-specific therapies for optimizing neuropathic pain treatment and nerve regeneration.