Affiliation:
1. Department of Pain Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou China
2. Department of Neurobiology and Acupuncture Research, The Third Clinical Medical College Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Neurology of Zhejiang Province Hangzhou China
3. Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China, School of Medicine Zhejiang University Hangzhou China
Abstract
AbstractNociplastic pain is a severe health problem, while its mechanisms are still unclear. (R, S)‐3,5‐Dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) is a group I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonist that can cause central sensitization, which plays a role in nociplastic pain. In this study, after intrathecal injection of 25 nmol DHPG for three consecutive days, whole proteins were extracted from the L4~6 lumbar spinal cord of mice 2 h after intrathecal administration on the third day for proteomics analysis. Based on the results, 15 down‐regulated and 20 up‐regulated proteins were identified in mice. Real‐time quantitative PCR (RT‐qPCR) and western blotting (WB) revealed that the expression of ectopic P granules protein 5 homolog (EPG5) mRNA and protein were significantly up‐regulated compared with the control group, which was consistent with the proteomics results. Originally identified in the genetic screening of Caenorhabditis elegans, EPG5 is mainly involved in regulating autophagy in the body, and in our study, it was mainly expressed in spinal neurons, as revealed by immunohistochemistry staining. After the intrathecal injection of 8 μL adeno‐associated virus (AAV)‐EPG5 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to knock down spinal EPG5, the hyperalgesia caused by DHPG was relieved. Altogether, these results suggest that EPG5 plays an important role in DHPG‐induced pain sensitization in mice.image
Subject
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience,Biochemistry