TY - JOUR
T1 - A gain-of-function voltage-gated sodium channel 1.8 mutation drives intense hyperexcitability of A- and C-fiber neurons
AU - Garrison, Sheldon R.
AU - Weyer, Andy D.
AU - Barabas, Marie E.
AU - Beutler, Bruce A.
AU - Stucky, Cheryl L.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Frank Porreca and Katherine Zappia for their careful review and critique of this manuscript. This work has received grant support from the National Institutes of Health NS40538 and NS070711 (to C.L.S.), and the Broad Agency Announcement Contract HHSN27220000038C (to B.A.B.).
PY - 2014/5
Y1 - 2014/5
N2 - Therapeutic use of general sodium channel blockers, such as lidocaine, can substantially reduce the enhanced activity in sensory neurons that accompanies chronic pain after nerve or tissue injury. However, because these general blockers have significant side effects, there is great interest in developing inhibitors that specifically target subtypes of sodium channels. Moreover, some idiopathic small-fiber neuropathies are driven by gain-of-function mutations in specific sodium channel subtypes. In the current study, we focus on one subtype, the voltage-gated sodium channel 1.8 (Nav1.8). Nav1.8 is preferentially expressed in nociceptors, and gain-of-function mutations in Nav1.8 result in painful mechanical hypersensitivity in humans. Here, we used the recently developed gain-of-function Nav1.8 transgenic mouse strain, Possum, to investigate Nav1.8-mediated peripheral afferent hyperexcitability. This gain-of-function mutation resulted in markedly increased mechanically evoked action potential firing in subclasses of Aβ, Aδ, and C fibers. Moreover, mechanical stimuli initiated bursts of action potential firing in specific subpopulations that continued for minutes after removal of the force and were not susceptible to conduction failure. Surprisingly, despite the intense afferent firing, the behavioral effects of the Nav1.8 mutation were quite modest, as only frankly noxious stimuli elicited enhanced pain behavior. These data demonstrate that a Nav1.8 gain-of-function point mutation contributes to intense hyperexcitability along the afferent axon within distinct sensory neuron subtypes.
AB - Therapeutic use of general sodium channel blockers, such as lidocaine, can substantially reduce the enhanced activity in sensory neurons that accompanies chronic pain after nerve or tissue injury. However, because these general blockers have significant side effects, there is great interest in developing inhibitors that specifically target subtypes of sodium channels. Moreover, some idiopathic small-fiber neuropathies are driven by gain-of-function mutations in specific sodium channel subtypes. In the current study, we focus on one subtype, the voltage-gated sodium channel 1.8 (Nav1.8). Nav1.8 is preferentially expressed in nociceptors, and gain-of-function mutations in Nav1.8 result in painful mechanical hypersensitivity in humans. Here, we used the recently developed gain-of-function Nav1.8 transgenic mouse strain, Possum, to investigate Nav1.8-mediated peripheral afferent hyperexcitability. This gain-of-function mutation resulted in markedly increased mechanically evoked action potential firing in subclasses of Aβ, Aδ, and C fibers. Moreover, mechanical stimuli initiated bursts of action potential firing in specific subpopulations that continued for minutes after removal of the force and were not susceptible to conduction failure. Surprisingly, despite the intense afferent firing, the behavioral effects of the Nav1.8 mutation were quite modest, as only frankly noxious stimuli elicited enhanced pain behavior. These data demonstrate that a Nav1.8 gain-of-function point mutation contributes to intense hyperexcitability along the afferent axon within distinct sensory neuron subtypes.
KW - Gain-of-function
KW - Inflammatory pain
KW - Mechanical hyperalgesia
KW - Neuropathic pain
KW - Scn10a
KW - Spontaneous activity
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pain.2014.01.012
DO - 10.1016/j.pain.2014.01.012
M3 - Article
C2 - 24447515
AN - SCOPUS:84898597785
SN - 0304-3959
VL - 155
SP - 896
EP - 905
JO - Pain
JF - Pain
IS - 5
ER -