The Journal of Neuroscience, March 11, 2009, 29(10):3206-3219; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4514-08.2009
Previous Article | Next Article 
Neurobiology of Disease
Persistent Inflammation Induces GluR2 Internalization via NMDA Receptor-Triggered PKC Activation in Dorsal Horn Neurons
Jang-Su Park,1 *
Nana Voitenko,2 *
Ronald S. Petralia,3
Xiaowei Guan,1
Ji-Tian Xu,1
Jordan P. Steinberg,4
Kogo Takamiya,4,5
Andrij Sotnik,2
Olga Kopach,2
Richard L. Huganir,4,6 and
Yuan-Xiang Tao1
1Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, 2Department of General Physiology of Nervous System, Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kiev 01024, Ukraine, 3Laboratory of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, and Departments of 4Neuroscience and 5Neurosurgery and 6Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Yuan-Xiang Tao, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 367 Ross, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205. Email: ytao1{at}jhmi.edu
Spinal cord GluR2-lacking AMPA receptors (AMPARs) contribute to nociceptive hypersensitivity in persistent pain, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this event are not completely understood. We report that complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced peripheral inflammation induces synaptic GluR2 internalization in dorsal horn neurons during the maintenance of CFA-evoked nociceptive hypersensitivity. This internalization is initiated by GluR2 phosphorylation at Ser880 and subsequent disruption of GluR2 binding to its synaptic anchoring protein (GRIP), resulting in a switch of GluR2-containing AMPARs to GluR2-lacking AMPARs and an increase of AMPAR Ca2+ permeability at the synapses in dorsal horn neurons. Spinal cord NMDA receptor-mediated triggering of protein kinase C (PKC) activation is required for the induction and maintenance of CFA-induced dorsal horn GluR2 internalization. Moreover, preventing CFA-induced spinal GluR2 internalization through targeted mutation of the GluR2 PKC phosphorylation site impairs CFA-evoked nociceptive hypersensitivity during the maintenance period. These results suggest that dorsal horn GluR2 internalization might participate in the maintenance of NMDA receptor/PKC-dependent nociceptive hypersensitivity in persistent inflammatory pain.
Received Sept. 20, 2008;
revised Feb. 4, 2009;
accepted Feb. 9, 2009.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Yuan-Xiang Tao, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 367 Ross, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205. Email: ytao1{at}jhmi.edu