1
|
Mogil JS, Parisien M, Esfahani SJ, Diatchenko L. Sex differences in mechanisms of pain hypersensitivity. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 163:105749. [PMID: 38838876 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2024] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
The introduction of sex-as-a-biological-variable policies at funding agencies around the world has led to an explosion of very recent observations of sex differences in the biology underlying pain. This review considers evidence of sexually dimorphic mechanisms mediating pain hypersensitivity, derived from modern assays of persistent pain in rodent animal models. Three well-studied findings are described in detail: the male-specific role of spinal cord microglia, the female-specific role of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and the female-specific role of prolactin and its receptor. Other findings of sex-specific molecular involvement in pain are subjected to pathway analyses and reveal at least one novel hypothesis: that females may preferentially use Th1 and males Th2 T cell activity to mediate chronic pain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey S Mogil
- Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.
| | - Marc Parisien
- Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Sahel J Esfahani
- Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Luda Diatchenko
- Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Baptista-de-Souza D, Tavares-Ferreira D, Megat S, Sankaranarayanan I, Shiers S, Flores CM, Ghosh S, Luiz Nunes-de-Souza R, Canto-de-Souza A, Price TJ. Sex differences in the role of atypical PKC within the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala in a mouse hyperalgesic priming model. NEUROBIOLOGY OF PAIN (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2020; 8:100049. [PMID: 32548337 PMCID: PMC7284072 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynpai.2020.100049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Revised: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2020] [Indexed: 04/15/2023]
Abstract
Though sex differences in chronic pain have been consistently described in the literature, their underlying neural mechanisms are poorly understood. Previous work in humans has demonstrated that men and women differentially invoke distinct brain regions and circuits in coping with subjective pain unpleasantness. The goal of the present work was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) that modulate hyperalgesic priming, a pain plasticity model, in males and females. We used plantar incision as the first, priming stimulus and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) as the second stimulus. We sought to assess whether hyperalgesic priming can be prevented or reversed by pharmacologically manipulating molecular targets in the BLA of male or female mice. We found that administering ZIP, a cell-permeable inhibitor of aPKC, into the BLA attenuated aspects of hyperalgesic priming induced by plantar incision in males and females. However, incision only upregulated PKCζ/PKMζ immunoreactivity in the BLA of male mice, and deficits in hyperalgesic priming were seen only when we restricted our analysis to male Prkcz-/- mice. On the other hand, intra-BLA microinjections of pep2m, a peptide that interferes with the trafficking and function of GluA2-containing AMPA receptors, a downstream target of aPKC, reduced mechanical hypersensitivity after plantar incision and disrupted the development of hyperalgesic priming in both male and female mice. In addition, pep2m treatment reduced facial grimacing and restored aberrant behavioral responses in the sucrose splash test in male and female primed mice. Immunofluorescence results demonstrated upregulation of GluA2 expression in the BLA of male and female primed mice, consistent with pep2m findings. We conclude that, in a model of incision-induced hyperalgesic priming, PKCζ/PKMζ in the BLA is critical for the development of hyperalgesic priming in males, while GluA2 in the BLA is crucial for the expression of both reflexive and affective pain-related behaviors in both male and female mice in this model. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence of sex differences in molecular pain mechanisms in the brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Baptista-de-Souza
- Dept. Psychology, Federal University of Sao Carlos-UFSCar, Sao Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
- University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Advanced Pain Studies, United States
| | - Diana Tavares-Ferreira
- University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Advanced Pain Studies, United States
| | - Salim Megat
- University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Advanced Pain Studies, United States
| | - Ishwarya Sankaranarayanan
- University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Advanced Pain Studies, United States
| | - Stephanie Shiers
- University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Advanced Pain Studies, United States
| | - Christopher M. Flores
- Janssen Research & Development, Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Sourav Ghosh
- Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, United States
| | - Ricardo Luiz Nunes-de-Souza
- Joint Graduate Program in Physiological Sciences UFSCar/UNESP, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
- Lab. Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Univ. Estadual Paulista – UNESP, Araraquara, SP 14800-903, Brazil
| | - Azair Canto-de-Souza
- Dept. Psychology, Federal University of Sao Carlos-UFSCar, Sao Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
- Joint Graduate Program in Physiological Sciences UFSCar/UNESP, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
- Graduate Program in Psychology UFSCar, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
| | - Theodore J. Price
- University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Center for Advanced Pain Studies, United States
- Corresponding author at: University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 800 W Campbell Rd., BSB 14.102, Richardson, TX 75080, United States.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Li XH, Chen QY, Zhuo M. Neuronal Adenylyl Cyclase Targeting Central Plasticity for the Treatment of Chronic Pain. Neurotherapeutics 2020; 17:861-873. [PMID: 32935298 PMCID: PMC7609634 DOI: 10.1007/s13311-020-00927-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic pain is a major health problem and the effective treatment for chronic pain is still lacking. The recent crisis created by the overuse of opioids for pain treatment has clearly shown the need for non-addictive novel pain medicine. Conventional pain medicines usually inhibit peripheral nociceptive transmission and reduce central transmission, especially pain-related excitatory transmission. For example, both opioids and gabapentin produce analgesic effects by inhibiting the release of excitatory transmitters and reducing neuronal excitability. Here, we will review recent studies of central synaptic plasticity contributing to central sensitization in chronic pain. Neuronal selective adenylyl cyclase subtype 1 (AC1) is proposed to be a key intracellular protein that causes both presynaptic and postsynaptic forms of long-term potentiation (LTP). Inhibiting the activity of AC1 by selective inhibitor NB001 blocks behavioral sensitization and injury-related anxiety in animal models of chronic pain. We propose that inhibiting injury-related LTPs will provide new mechanisms for designing novel medicines for the treatment of chronic pain and its related emotional disorders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xu-Hui Li
- Institute of Brain Research, Qingdao International Academician Park, Qingdao, Shandong China
- Center for Neuron and Disease, Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049 Shaanxi China
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Medical Science Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 Canada
| | - Qi-Yu Chen
- Institute of Brain Research, Qingdao International Academician Park, Qingdao, Shandong China
- Center for Neuron and Disease, Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049 Shaanxi China
| | - Min Zhuo
- Institute of Brain Research, Qingdao International Academician Park, Qingdao, Shandong China
- Center for Neuron and Disease, Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049 Shaanxi China
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Medical Science Building, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 Canada
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Qualitative sex differences in pain processing: emerging evidence of a biased literature. Nat Rev Neurosci 2020; 21:353-365. [PMID: 32440016 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-0310-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 313] [Impact Index Per Article: 78.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Although most patients with chronic pain are women, the preclinical literature regarding pain processing and the pathophysiology of chronic pain has historically been derived overwhelmingly from the study of male rodents. This Review describes how the recent adoption by a number of funding agencies of policies mandating the incorporation of sex as a biological variable into preclinical research has correlated with an increase in the number of studies investigating sex differences in pain and analgesia. Trends in the field are analysed, with a focus on newly published findings of qualitative sex differences: that is, those findings that are suggestive of differential processing mechanisms in each sex. It is becoming increasingly clear that robust differences exist in the genetic, molecular, cellular and systems-level mechanisms of acute and chronic pain processing in male and female rodents and humans.
Collapse
|