Involvement of chemokines in abdominal pain induced by peritoneal carcinomatosis

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In the present study, I developed a novel mouse model for abdominal pain due to cancerous peritonitis. Mice with peritoneal carcinomatosis exhibit hypersensitivity to mechanical stimulation and visceral pain-like behavior. In the current model, I observed a dramatic increase in the expression of substance P, but not chemokines, in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of mice with peritoneal dissemination, suggesting that the up-regulation of substance P may be responsible for the abdominal pain due to peritoneal carcinomatosis. Another key finding in the present study was that peritoneal dissemination decreased the expression of μ-opioid receptor (MOR) in the DRG. In relation to the down-regulation of MOR, the effect of morphine was less in tumor-bearing mice than that in inflammatory pain model mice. This newly developed model may be important for studying the pathogenesis of abdominal pain due to cancerous peritonitis.