PAIN-INDUCED ACTIVATION OF TRANSCRIPTION IN SENSORY NEUR

伤害感觉神经元，传递环境刺激，表明真实或潜在的组织损伤事件，在长时间或强烈的有害刺激下，表型发生可塑性变化。这些变化是病理性疼痛的慢性疼痛超敏反应的重要组成部分。特别重要的是，非伤害性神经元也可能在对组织损伤的反应中发生表型变化，导致即使是轻微的触摸也会产生疼痛的感觉。目前，还不清楚有害刺激如何导致感觉神经元基因表达的变化。解决这些问题的努力受到了在准备中确定感觉神经元模式的困难的阻碍，在准备中刺激的影响可以有效地解决。在这个实验室已经建立了几种技术来鉴定和分离特定种群的伤害感受器和非伤害感受器。这里描述的实验将检验不同质量的有害刺激在体内和体外激活感觉神经元转录的能力。最后，识别无害机械感受器的能力将使我们能够明确地确定有害刺激是否能够激活非伤害性感觉神经元的基因表达。

Nociceptive sensory neurons, which convey environmental stimuli indicating real or potentially tissue-damaging events, undergo plastic changes in phenotype in response to prolonged or intense noxious stimulation. These changes represent an essential component of the chronic painful hypersensitivity of pathological pain. Particularly important is the possibility that non- nociceptive neurons may also undergo changes in phenotype in response to tissue injury, resulting in the perception of even light touch as painful. Currently, it is not clear how noxious stimuli result in changes in sensory neuron gene expression. Efforts to address these issues are hampered by the difficulty of determining the modalities of sensory neurons in preparations in which the effects of stimulation can be effectively addressed. Several techniques have been established in this laboratory to identify and isolate specfic populations of nociceptors and non- nociceptive mechansensors. Experiments described here will examine the ability of different qualities of noxious stimulation to activate transcription in sensory neurons both in vivo and in vitro. Finally, the ability to identify innocuous mechanoreceptors will allow us to definitively determine whether noxious stimulation is capable of activating gene expression in non-nociceptive sensory neurons.