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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2003, 23(7):2899
Altered Expression and Uptake Activity of Spinal Glutamate
Transporters after Nerve Injury Contribute to the Pathogenesis of
Neuropathic Pain in Rats
Backil
Sung,
Grewo
Lim, and
Jianren
Mao
Massachusetts General Hospital Pain Center, Department of
Anesthesia and Critical Care, Massachusetts General Hospital and
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
The central glutamatergic system has been implicated in the
pathogenesis of neuropathic pain, and a highly active central glutamate
transporter (GT) system regulates the uptake of endogenous glutamate.
Here we demonstrate that both the expression and uptake activity of
spinal GTs changed after chronic constriction nerve injury (CCI) and
contributed to neuropathic pain behaviors in rats. CCI induced an
initial GT upregulation up to at least postoperative day 5 primarily
within the ipsilateral spinal cord dorsal horn, which was followed by a
GT downregulation when examined on postoperative days 7 and 14 by
Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Intrathecal administration of
the tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor K252a and the mitogen-activated
protein kinase inhibitor PD98059 for postoperative days 1-4 reduced
and nearly abolished the initial GT upregulation in CCI rats,
respectively. Prevention of the CCI-induced GT upregulation by PD98059
resulted in exacerbated thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia
reversible by the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801,
indicating that the initial GT upregulation hampered the development of
neuropathic pain behaviors. Moreover, CCI significantly reduced
glutamate uptake activity of spinal GTs when examined on postoperative
day 5, which was prevented by riluzole (a positive GT activity
regulator) given intrathecally twice a day for postoperative days 1-4.
Consistently, riluzole attenuated and gradually reversed neuropathic
pain behaviors when the 4 d riluzole treatment was given for
postoperative days 1-4 and 5-8, respectively. These results indicate
that changes in the expression and glutamate uptake activity of spinal
GTs may play a critical role in both the induction and maintenance of neuropathic pain after nerve injury via the regulation of regional glutamate homeostasis, a new mechanism relevant to the pathogenesis of
neuropathic pain.
Key words:
neuropathic pain; allodynia; hyperalgesia; glutamate transporter; nerve injury; riluzole; tyrosine kinase; mitogen-activated protein kinase
Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/03/2372899-12$05.00/0
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