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Peripheral nerve injury can lead to a persistent neuropathic pain state in which innocuous tactile stimulation elicits pain behavior (tactile allodynia). Spinal administration of the anticonvulsant gabapentin suppresses allodynia by an unknown mechanism. In vitro studies indicate that gabapentin binds to the ␣ 2 ␦-1 (hereafter referred to as ␣ 2 ␦) subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels. We hypothesized that nerve injury may result in altered ␣ 2 ␦ subunit expression in spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) and that this change may play a role in neuropathic pain processing. Using a rat neuropathic pain model in which gabapentin-sensitive tactile allodynia develops after tight ligation of the left fifth and sixth lumbar spinal nerves, we found a Ͼ17-fold, time-dependent increase in ␣ 2 ␦ subunit expression in DRGs ipsilateral to the nerve injury. Marked ␣ 2 ␦ subunit upregulation was also evident in rats with unilateral sciatic nerve crush, but not dorsal rhizotomy, indicating a peripheral origin of the expression regulation. The increased ␣ 2 ␦ subunit expression preceded the allodynia onset and diminished in rats recovering from tactile allodynia. RNase protection experiments indicated that the DRG ␣ 2 ␦ regulation was at the mRNA level. In contrast, calcium channel ␣ 1B and ␤ 3 subunit expression was not co-upregulated with the ␣ 2 ␦ subunit after nerve injury. These data suggest that DRG ␣ 2 ␦ regulation may play an unique role in neuroplasticity after peripheral nerve injury that may contribute to allodynia development. Key words: ␣ 2 ␦ calcium channel subunit; peripheral nerve injury; rhizotomy; allodynia; dorsal root ganglia; spinal cord; sensory neuronsPeripheral nerve injury may lead to neuropathic syndromes characterized by both spontaneous and evoked painful sensations. Allodynia, or an exaggerated response to otherwise innocuous tactile stimuli, is considered both a hallmark and the most troublesome of these syndromes (Price et al., 1989;Wahren and Torebjork, 1992;Koltzenburg et al., 1994). The molecular mechanisms of neuropathic pain states are not clear. It has been hypothesized that disordered sensory processing arises from long-term changes in the function of sensory afferents and the organization of sensory input into the dorsal horn (Coderre et al., 1993;Woolf and Doubell, 1994).Pharmacological evidence suggests that spinal N-type voltagegated calcium channels (N-VGCCs) play a role in neuropathic pain transduction. Intrathecal delivery of N-type ( -conopeptides), but not L-or P-type, VGCC antagonists suppresses allodynia in neuropathic rat models (Chaplan et al., 1994b;Calcutt and Chaplan, 1997). Autoradiographic studies showed the highest density of conopeptide-binding sites in the spinal dorsal horn (lamina I and II) where primary afferents terminate (Kerr et al., 1988;Takemura et al., 1989). N-VGCCs are also found in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons where they are differentially modulated after sciatic nerve damage (Abdulla and Smith, 1997).High-threshold neuronal VGCCs contain thr...

Neuropathic pain is a common and often incapacitating clinical problem for which little useful therapy is presently available. Painful peripheral neuropathies can have many etiologies, among which are trauma, viral infections, exposure to radiation or chemotherapy, and metabolic or autoimmune diseases. Sufferers generally experience both pain at rest and exaggerated, painful sensitivity to light touch. Spontaneous firing of injured nerves is believed to play a critical role in the induction and maintenance of neuropathic pain syndromes. Using a well characterized nerve ligation model in the rat, we demonstrate that hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-modulated (HCN) "pacemaker" channels play a previously unrecognized role in both touch-related pain and spontaneous neuronal discharge originating in the damaged dorsal root ganglion. HCN channels, particularly HCN1, are abundantly expressed in rat primary afferent somata. Nerve injury markedly increases pacemaker currents in large-diameter dorsal root ganglion neurons and results in pacemaker-driven spontaneous action potentials in the ligated nerve. Pharmacological blockade of HCN activity using the specific inhibitor ZD7288 reverses abnormal hypersensitivity to light touch and decreases the firing frequency of ectopic discharges originating in Abeta and Adelta fibers by 90 and 40%, respectively, without conduction blockade. These findings suggest novel insights into the molecular basis of pain and the possibility of new, specific, effective pharmacological therapies.

Cancer colonization of bone leads to the activation of osteoclasts, thereby producing local tissue acidosis and bone resorption. This process may contribute to the generation of both ongoing and movement-evoked pain, resulting from the activation of sensory neurons that detect noxious stimuli (nociceptors). The capsaicin receptor TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 1) is a cation channel expressed by nociceptors that detects multiple pain-producing stimuli, including noxious heat and extracellular protons, raising the possibility that it is an important mediator of bone cancer pain via its capacity to detect osteoclast-and tumor-mediated tissue acidosis. Here, we show that TRPV1 is present on sensory neuron fibers that innervate the mouse femur and that, in an in vivo model of bone cancer pain, acute or chronic administration of a TRPV1 antagonist or disruption of the TRPV1 gene results in a significant attenuation of both ongoing and movement-evoked nocifensive behaviors. Administration of the antagonist had similar efficacy in reducing early, moderate, and severe pain-related responses, suggesting that TRPV1 may be a novel target for pharmacological treatment of chronic pain states associated with bone cancer metastasis.

1 The reversible fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor OL135 reverses mechanical allodynia in the spinal nerve ligation (SNL) and mild thermal injury (MTI) models in the rat. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the cannabinoid and opioid systems in mediating this analgesic effect. À/À mice. 5 OL135 given i.p. resulted in a dose-responsive reversal of mechanical allodynia in both MTI and SNL models in the rat with an ED 50 between 6 and 9 mg kg À1 . The plasma concentration at the ED 50 in both models was 0.7 mM (240 ng ml À1 ). 6 In the rat SNL model, coadministration of the selective CB 2 receptor antagonist SR144528 (5 mg kg À1 i.p.), with 20 mg kg À1 OL135 blocked the OL135-induced reversal of mechanical allodynia, but the selective CB 1 antagonist SR141716A (5 mg kg À1 i.p.) was without effect. 7 In the rat MTI model neither SR141716A or SR144528 (both at 5 mg kg À1 i.p.), or a combination of both antagonists coadministered with OL135 (20 mg kg À1) blocked reversal of mechanical allodynia assessed 30 min after dosing. 8 In both the MTI model and SNL models in rats, naloxone (1 mg kg À1 , i.p. 30 min after OL135) reversed the analgesia (to 15% of control levels in the MTI model, to zero in the SNL) produced by OL135.