Selective impairment of spinal mu-opioid receptor mechanism by plasticity of serotonergic facilitation mediated by 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors

Opioid analgesia is compromised by intracellular mediators such as protein kinase C (PKC). The phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis-coupled serotonin receptor 5-HT2 is ideally suited to promote PKC activation. We test the hypothesis that 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors, which have been previously shown to become pro-excitatory after spinal nerve ligation (SNL), can negatively influence the ability of opioids to depress spinal excitation evoked by noxious input. Spinal superfusion with (100 nM) mu-opioid receptor (MOR)-agonist DAMGO significantly depressed C fiber-evoked spinal field potentials. Simultaneous administration of subclinical 5-HT2AR antagonist 4F 4PP (100 nM) or 5-HT2BR antagonist SB 204741 (100 nM) significantly reduced the IC50 value for DAMGO in nerve-ligated rats (97.56 nM ± 1.51 and 1.20 nM ± 1.28 respectively, relative to 104 nM ± 1.08 at the baseline condition), but not in sham-operated rats. Both antagonists failed to alter depression induced by delta-opioid receptor (DOR)-agonist D-ala2-deltorphin II after SNL as well as in the sham condition. Western blot analysis of dorsal horn homogenates revealed bilateral upregulation of 5-HT2AR and 5-HT2BR protein band densities after SNL. As assessed from double immunofluorescence labeling for confocal laser scanning microscopy, scarce dorsal horn cell processes showed co-localization color overlay for 5-HT2AR/MOR, 5-HT2BR/MOR, 5-HT2AR/DOR, or 5-HT2BR/DOR in sham-operated rats. Intensity correlation-based analyses showed significant increases in 5-HT2AR/MOR and 5-HT2BR/MOR co-localizations after SNL. These results indicate that plasticity of spinal serotonergic neurotransmission can selectively reduce spinal MOR mechanisms via 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors, including upregulation of the latter and increased expression in dorsal horn neurons containing MOR.