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BackgroundLong-term use of morphine induces analgesic tolerance, which limits its clinical efficacy. Evidence indicated morphine-evoked neuroinflammation mediated by toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) - NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome was important for morphine tolerance. In our study, we investigated whether other existing alternative pathways caused morphine-induced activation of TLR4 in microglia. We focused on heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP), which was released from various cells upon stimulations under the control of KATP channel and bound with TLR4-inducing inflammation. Glibenclamide, a classic KATP channel blocker, can improve neuroinflammation by inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Our present study investigated the effect and possible mechanism of glibenclamide in improving morphine tolerance via its specific inhibition on the release of HSP70 and activation of NLRP3 inflammasome induced by morphine.MethodsCD-1 mice were used for tail-flick test to evaluate morphine tolerance. The microglial cell line BV-2 and neural cell line SH-SY5Y were used to investigate the pharmacological effects and the mechanism of glibenclamide on morphine-induced neuroinflammation. The activation of microglia was accessed by immunofluorescence staining. Neuroinflammation-related cytokines were measured by western blot and real-time PCR. The level of HSP70 and related signaling pathway were evaluated by western blot and immunofluorescence staining.ResultsMorphine induced the release of HSP70 from neurons. The released HSP70 activated microglia and triggered TLR4-mediated inflammatory response, leading to the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 and the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Moreover, anti-HSP70 neutralizing antibody partly attenuated chronic morphine tolerance. The secretion of HSP70 was under the control of MOR/AKT/KATP/ERK signal pathway. Glibenclamide as a classic KATP channel blocker markedly inhibited the release of HSP70 induced by morphine and suppressed HSP70-TLR4-NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated neuroinflammation, which consequently attenuated morphine tolerance.ConclusionsOur study indicated that morphine-induced extracellular HSP70 was an alternative way for the activation of TLR4-NLRP3 in analgesic tolerance. The release of HSP70 was regulated by MOR/AKT/KATP/ERK pathway. Our study suggested a promising target, KATP channel and a new leading compound, glibenclamide, for treating morphine tolerance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12974-017-0997-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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