PAIN-INDUCED ACTIVATION OF TRANSCRIPTION IN SENSORY NEUR

伤害性感觉神经元传递指示真实的或潜在的组织破坏性事件的环境刺激，在长时间或强烈的伤害性刺激下经历表型的可塑性变化。这些变化代表了病理性疼痛的慢性疼痛超敏反应的重要组成部分。尤其重要的是，非伤害性神经元可能也会因组织损伤而发生表型变化，导致即使是轻微的触摸也会产生疼痛的感觉。目前，伤害性刺激如何引起感觉神经元基因表达的变化尚不清楚。由于难以确定可有效解决刺激效应的制剂中感觉神经元的模式，解决这些问题的努力受到阻碍。这个实验室已经建立了几种技术来识别和分离伤害感受器和非伤害感受器的特定种群。这里描述的实验将检验不同性质的伤害性刺激在体内和体外激活感觉神经元转录的能力。最后，识别无害的机械感受器的能力将使我们能够确定伤害性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.