Enhanced RAGE Expression in the Dorsal Root Ganglion May Contribute to Neuropathic Pain Induced by Spinal Nerve Ligation in Rats

The Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products in the Mouse Anterior Cingulate Cortex is Involved in Neuron‒Astrocyte Coupling in Chronic Inflammatory Pain and Anxiety Comorbidity

Previous studies have shown that astrocyte activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), accompanied by upregulation of the astrocyte marker S100 calcium binding protein B (S100B), contributes to comorbid anxiety in chronic inflammatory pain (CIP), but the exact downstream mechanism is still being explored. The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) plays an important role in chronic pain and psychosis by recognizing ligands, including S100B. Therefore, we speculate that RAGE may be involved in astrocyte regulation of the comorbidity between CIP and anxiety by recognizing S100B. Here, we investigated the potential role of RAGE and the correlation between RAGE and astrocyte regulation in the ACC using a mouse model of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced inflammatory pain. We detected substantial upregulation of RAGE expression in ACC neurons when anxiety-like behaviors occurred in CFA-treated mice. The inhibition of RAGE expression decreased the hyperexcitability of ACC neurons and alleviated both hyperalgesia and anxiety in CFA-treated mice. Furthermore, we found that the ACC astrocytic S100B level increased over a similar time course. Intra-ACC application of S100B or downregulation of ACC astrocytic S100B via suppression of astrocyte activation significantly affected RAGE levels and the relative behaviors of CFA-treated mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that the upregulation of ACC neuronal RAGE results from the activation of astrocytic S100B and leads to the maintenance of pain perception and anxiety in the late phase after CFA injection, which may partly explain the mechanism by which ACC neuron‒astrocyte coupling promotes the maintenance of CIP and anxiety comorbidity.

Spinal HMGB1 participates in the early stages of paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain via microglial TLR4 and RAGE activation

Introduction

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) is one of the main adverse effects of chemotherapy treatment. At the spinal level, CINP modulation involves glial cells that upregulate Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and signaling pathways, which can be activated by pro-inflammatory mediators as the high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1).

Objective

To evaluate the spinal role of HMGB1 in the paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain via receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) and TLR4 activation expressed in glial cells.

Methods

Male C57BL/6 Wild type and TLR4 deficient mice were used in the paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain model. The nociceptive threshold was measured using the von Frey filament test. In addition, recombinant HMGB1 was intrathecally (i.t.) injected to confirm its nociceptive potential. To evaluate the spinal participation of RAGE, TLR4, NF-kB, microglia, astrocytes, and MAPK p38 in HMGB1-mediated nociceptive effect during neuropathic pain and recombinant HMGB1-induced nociception, the drugs FPS-ZM1, LPS-RS, PDTC, minocycline, fluorocitrate, and SML0543 were respectively administrated by i.t. rout. Microglia, astrocytes, glial cells, RAGE, and TLR4 protein expression were analyzed by Western blot. ELISA immunoassay was also used to assess HMGB1, IL-1β, and TNF-α spinal levels.

Results

The pharmacological experiments demonstrated that spinal RAGE, TLR4, microglia, astrocytes, as well as MAPK p38 and NF-kB signaling are involved with HMGB1-induced nociception and paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain. Furthermore, HMGB1 spinal levels were increased during the early stages of neuropathic pain and associated with RAGE, TLR4 and microglial activation. RAGE and TLR4 blockade decreased spinal levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines during neuropathic pain.

Conclusion

Taken together, our findings indicate that HMGB1 may be released during the early stages of paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain. This molecule activates RAGE and TLR4 receptors in spinal microglia, upregulating pro-inflammatory cytokines that may contribute to neuropathic pain.

Role of RAGE in the Pathogenesis of Neurological Disorders

This review reflects upon our own as well as other investigators' studies on the role of receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), bringing up the latest information on RAGE in physiology and pathology of the nervous system. Over the last ten years, major progress has been made in uncovering many of RAGE-ligand interactions and signaling pathways in nervous tissue; however, the translation of these discoveries into clinical practice has not come to fruition yet. This is likely, in part to be the result of our incomplete understanding of this crucial signaling pathway. Clinical trials examining the therapeutic efficacy of blocking RAGE-external ligand interactions by genetically engineered soluble RAGE or an endogenous RAGE antagonist, has not stood up to its promise; however, other trials with different blocking agents are being considered with hope for therapeutic success in diseases of the nervous system.

Discrepancy in the Usage of GFAP as a Marker of Satellite Glial Cell Reactivity

Satellite glial cells (SGCs) surrounding the neuronal somas in peripheral sensory ganglia are sensitive to neuronal stressors, which induce their reactive state. It is believed that such induced gliosis affects the signaling properties of the primary sensory neurons and is an important component of the neuropathic phenotype leading to pain and other sensory disturbances. Efforts to understand and manipulate such gliosis relies on reliable markers to confirm induced SGC reactivity and ultimately the efficacy of targeted intervention. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is currently the only widely used marker for such analyses. However, we have previously described the lack of SGC upregulation of GFAP in a mouse model of sciatic nerve injury, suggesting that GFAP may not be a universally suitable marker of SGC gliosis across species and experimental models. To further explore this, we here investigate the regulation of GFAP in two different experimental models in both rats and mice. We found that whereas GFAP was upregulated in both rodent species in the applied inflammation model, only the rat demonstrated increased GFAP in SGCs following sciatic nerve injury; we did not observe any such GFAP upregulation in the mouse model at either protein or mRNA levels. Our results demonstrate an important discrepancy between species and experimental models that prevents the usage of GFAP as a universal marker for SGC reactivity.

P2X3 receptor upregulation in trigeminal ganglion neurons through TNFα production in macrophages contributes to trigeminal neuropathic pain in rats

BACKGROUND

Trigeminal neuralgia is a characteristic disease that manifests as orofacial phasic or continuous severe pain triggered by innocuous orofacial stimulation; its mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study, we established a new animal model of trigeminal neuralgia and investigated the role of P2X₃ receptor (P2X₃R) alteration in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) via tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) signaling in persistent orofacial pain.

METHODS

Trigeminal nerve root compression (TNC) was performed in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Changes in the mechanical sensitivity of whisker pad skin, amount of TNFα in the TG, and number of P2X₃R and TNF receptor-2 (TNFR2)-positive TG neurons were assessed following TNC. The effects of TNFR2 antagonism in TG and subcutaneous P2X₃R antagonism on mechanical hypersensitivity following TNC were examined.

RESULTS

TNC induced unilateral continuous orofacial mechanical allodynia, which was depressed by carbamazepine. The accumulation of macrophages showing amoeboid-like morphological changes and expression of TNFα in the TG was remarkably increased following TNC treatment. The number of P2X₃R- and TNFR2-positive TG neurons innervating the orofacial skin was significantly increased following TNC. TNFα was released from activated macrophages that occurred in the TG following TNC, and TNFR2 antagonism in the TG significantly diminished the TNC-induced increase in P2X₃R-immunoreactive TG neurons. Moreover, subcutaneous P2X₃R antagonism in the whisker pad skin significantly depressed TNC-induced mechanical allodynia.

CONCLUSIONS

Therefore, it can be concluded that the signaling of TNFα released from activated macrophages in the TG induces the upregulation of P2X₃R expression in TG neurons innervating the orofacial region, resulting in orofacial mechanical allodynia following TNC.

Functional Reorganization of Local Circuit Connectivity in Superficial Spinal Dorsal Horn with Neuropathic Pain States

The spinal dorsal horn is the first relay structure coding for pain transmission and modulation. Previous anatomical and electrophysiological studies have examined spinal dorsal horn circuit connections and network activity. Further work is required to understand spinal cord sensory information processing that underlies pathological neuropathic pain states. Our previous studies suggest that peripheral nerve injury enhances presynaptic excitatory input onto spinal superficial dorsal horn neurons, which in turn contributes to pathologic nociception. The potential changes in local postsynaptic circuits in the dorsal horn that lead to pathologically heightened behavioral responses to pain remain largely unexplored. We combined whole-cell electrophysiological recordings with laser-scanning photostimulation to test whether peripheral nerve injury in the spinal nerve ligation (SNL) mouse model of neuropathic pain leads to alterations in the functional connectivity of spinal cord circuits including lamina II excitatory interneurons. Here we show that SNL enhances excitation and decreases inhibition to lamina II excitatory interneurons along with their increased glutamate-evoked excitability. The enhanced excitatory postsynaptic input and connectivity evoked by SNL eventually return to normal levels concurrently with the resolution of the neuropathic pain states. The physiological pattern highly correlates with mouse pain behaviors following SNL, supporting a neurophysiological mechanism of central sensitization and neuropathic pain that is functionally localized to the spinal dorsal horn. Together, these data support that SNL induces functional changes in synaptic input and connectivity to lamina II excitatory interneurons that code for pain perception, and thus provide new insights into the mechanism and locus of pain hypersensitivity.

The Secretomes of Painful Versus Nonpainful Human Schwannomatosis Tumor Cells Differentially Influence Sensory Neuron Gene Expression and Sensitivity

Schwannomatosis is a multiple tumor syndrome in which patients develop benign tumors along peripheral nerves throughout the body. The first symptom with which schwannomatosis patients often present, prior to discovery of tumors, is pain. This pain can be debilitating and is often inadequately alleviated by pharmacological approaches. Schwannomatosis-associated pain can be localized to the area of a tumor, or widespread. Moreover, not all tumors are painful, and the occurrence of pain is often unrelated to tumor size or location. We speculate that some individual tumors, but not others, secrete factors that act on nearby nerves to augment nociception by producing neuronal sensitization or spontaneous neuronal firing. We created cell lines from human SWN tumors with varying degrees of pain. We have found that conditioned medium (CM) collected from painful SWN tumors, but not that from nonpainful SWN tumors, sensitized DRG neurons, causing increased sensitivity to depolarization by KCl, increased response to noxious TRPV1 and TRPA1 agonists and also upregulated the expression of pain-associated genes in DRG cultures. Multiple cytokines were also detected at higher levels in CM from painful tumors. Taken together our data demonstrate a differential ability of painful versus non-painful human schwannomatosis tumor cells to secrete factors that augment sensory neuron responsiveness, and thus identify a potential determinant of pain heterogeneity in schwannomatosis.

Microglial BDNF, PI3K, and p-ERK in the Spinal Cord Are Suppressed by Pulsed Radiofrequency on Dorsal Root Ganglion to Ease SNI-Induced Neuropathic Pain in Rats

Background

Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) on the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) has been applied to alleviate neuropathic pain effectively, yet the mechanisms underlying pain reduction owing to this treatment are not clarified completely. The activated microglia, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) in the spinal cord were demonstrated to be involved in developing neuropathic pain. Also, it has been just known that PRF on DRG inhibits the microglial activation in nerve injury rats. Here, we aim to investigate whether PRF treatment could regulate the levels of BDNF, PI3K, and p-ERK in the spinal cord of rats with spared nerve injury (SNI) via suppressing the spinal microglia activation to ease neuropathic pain.

Methods

The rats with SNI were intrathecally treated with minocycline (specific microglia inhibitor) or same volume of dimethyl sulfoxide once daily, beginning from 1 h before nerve transection to 7 days. PRF was applied adjacent to the L₄-L₅ DRG of rats with SNI at 45 V for 6 min on the seventh postoperative day, whereas the free-PRF rats were treated without PRF. The withdrawal thresholds were studied, and the spinal levels of ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1), BDNF, PI3K, and p-ERK were calculated by western blot analysis, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and immunofluorescence.

Results

The paw withdrawal mechanical threshold and paw withdrawal thermal latency decreased in the ipsilateral hind paws after SNI, and the spinal levels of Iba1, BDNF, PI3K, and p-ERK increased on day 21 after SNI compared with baseline (P < 0.01). An intrathecal injection of minocycline led to the reversal of SNI-induced allodynia and increase in levels of Iba1, BDNF, PI3K, and p-ERK. Withdrawal thresholds recovered partially after a single PRF treatment for 14 days, and SNI-induced microglia hyperactivity, BDNF upregulation, and PI3K and ERK phosphorylation in the spinal cord reduced on D14 due to the PRF procedure.

Conclusion

Microglial BDNF, PI3K, and p-ERK in the spinal cord are suppressed by the therapy of PRF on DRG to ease SNI-induced neuropathic pain in rats.

RAGE-dependent potentiation of TRPV1 currents in sensory neurons exposed to high glucose

Diabetes mellitus is associated with sensory abnormalities, including exacerbated responses to painful (hyperalgesia) or non-painful (allodynia) stimuli. These abnormalities are symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), which is the most common complication that affects approximately 50% of diabetic patients. Yet, the underlying mechanisms linking hyperglycemia and symptoms of DPN remain poorly understood. The transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channel plays a central role in such sensory abnormalities and shows elevated expression levels in animal models of diabetes. Here, we investigated the function of TRPV1 channels in sensory neurons cultured from the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of neonatal mice, under control (5mM) and high glucose (25mM) conditions. After maintaining DRG neurons in high glucose for 1 week, we observed a significant increase in capsaicin (CAP)-evoked currents and CAP-evoked depolarizations, independent of TRPV1 channel expression. These functional changes were largely dependent on the expression of the receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products (RAGE), calcium influx, cytoplasmic ROS accumulation, PKC, and Src kinase activity. Like cultured neurons from neonates, mature neurons from adult mice also displayed a similar potentiation of CAP-evoked currents in the high glucose condition. Taken together, our data demonstrate that under the diabetic condition, DRG neurons are directly affected by elevated levels of glucose, independent of vascular or glial signals, and dependent on RAGE expression. These early cellular and molecular changes to sensory neurons in vitro are potential mechanisms that might contribute to sensory abnormalities that can occur in the very early stages of diabetes.

Disulfide high mobility group box-1 causes bladder pain through bladder Toll-like receptor 4

BACKGROUND

Bladder pain is a prominent symptom in several urological conditions (e.g. infection, painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis, cancer). Understanding the mechanism of bladder pain is important, particularly when the pain is not accompanied by bladder pathology. Stimulation of protease activated receptor 4 (PAR4) in the urothelium results in bladder pain through release of urothelial high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1). HGMB1 has two functionally active redox states (disulfide and all-thiol) and it is not known which form elicits bladder pain. Therefore, we investigated whether intravesical administration of specific HMGB1 redox forms caused abdominal mechanical hypersensitivity, micturition changes, and bladder inflammation in female C57BL/6 mice 24 hours post-administration. Moreover, we determined which of the specific HMGB1 receptors, Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) or receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), mediate HMGB1-induced changes.

RESULTS

Disulfide HMGB1 elicited abdominal mechanical hypersensitivity 24 hours after intravesical (5, 10, 20 μg/150 μl) instillation. In contrast, all-thiol HMGB1 did not produce abdominal mechanical hypersensitivity in any of the doses tested (1, 2, 5, 10, 20 μg/150 μl). Both HMGB1 redox forms caused micturition changes only at the highest dose tested (20 μg/150 μl) while eliciting mild bladder edema and reactive changes at all doses. We subsequently tested whether the effects of intravesical disulfide HMGB1 (10 μg/150 μl; a dose that did not produce inflammation) were prevented by systemic (i.p.) or local (intravesical) administration of either a TLR4 antagonist (TAK-242) or a RAGE antagonist (FPS-ZM1). Systemic administration of either TAK-242 (3 mg/kg) or FPS-ZM1 (10 mg/kg) prevented HMGB1 induced abdominal mechanical hypersensitivity while only intravesical TLR4 antagonist pretreatment (1.5 mg/ml; not RAGE) had this effect.

CONCLUSIONS

The disulfide form of HMGB1 mediates bladder pain directly (not secondary to inflammation or injury) through activation of TLR4 receptors in the bladder. Thus, TLR4 receptors are a specific local target for bladder pain.