TY - JOUR
T1 - Wound-healing growth factor, basic FGF, induces Erk1/2-dependent mechanical hyperalgesia
AU - Andres, Christine
AU - Hasenauer, Jan
AU - Ahn, Hye Sook
AU - Joseph, Elizabeth K.
AU - Isensee, Jörg
AU - Theis, Fabian J.
AU - Allgöwer, Frank
AU - Levine, Jon D.
AU - Dib-Hajj, Sulayman D.
AU - Waxman, Stephen G.
AU - Hucho, Tim
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (Project: 0315449D; Modeling of Pain Switches [MoPS]; Project 0315766, Virtual Liver), by the German Research Foundation within the Cluster of Excellence in Simulation Technology (EXC 310/1) at the University of Stuttgart. SGW and SDH are funded by research grants from the Medical Research Service and the Rehabilitation Research Service, the Veterans Administration, USA.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Growth factors such as nerve growth factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor are known to induce pain sensitization. However, a plethora of other growth factors is released during inflammation and tissue regeneration, and many of them are essential for wound healing. Which wound-healing factors also alter the sensitivity of nociceptive neurons is not well known. We studied the wound-healing factor, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), for its role in pain sensitization. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that the receptor of bFGF, FGFR1, is expressed in lumbar rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG). We demonstrated presence of FGFR1 protein in DRG neurons by a recently introduced quantitative automated immunofluorescent microscopic technique. FGFR1 was expressed in all lumbar DRG neurons as quantified by mixture modeling. Corroborating the mRNA and protein expression data, bFGF induced Erk1/2 phosphorylation in nociceptive neurons, which could be blocked by inhibition of FGF receptors. Furthermore, bFGF activated Erk1/2 in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Using single-cell electrophysiological recordings, we found that bFGF treatment of DRG neurons increased the current-density of NaV1.8 channels. Erk1/2 inhibitors abrogated this increase. Importantly, intradermal injection of bFGF in rats induced Erk1/2-dependent mechanical hyperalgesia. Perspective: Analyzing intracellular signaling dynamics in nociceptive neurons has proven to be a powerful approach to identify novel modulators of pain. In addition to describing a new sensitizing factor, our findings indicate the potential to investigate wound-healing factors for their role in nociception.
AB - Growth factors such as nerve growth factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor are known to induce pain sensitization. However, a plethora of other growth factors is released during inflammation and tissue regeneration, and many of them are essential for wound healing. Which wound-healing factors also alter the sensitivity of nociceptive neurons is not well known. We studied the wound-healing factor, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), for its role in pain sensitization. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that the receptor of bFGF, FGFR1, is expressed in lumbar rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG). We demonstrated presence of FGFR1 protein in DRG neurons by a recently introduced quantitative automated immunofluorescent microscopic technique. FGFR1 was expressed in all lumbar DRG neurons as quantified by mixture modeling. Corroborating the mRNA and protein expression data, bFGF induced Erk1/2 phosphorylation in nociceptive neurons, which could be blocked by inhibition of FGF receptors. Furthermore, bFGF activated Erk1/2 in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Using single-cell electrophysiological recordings, we found that bFGF treatment of DRG neurons increased the current-density of NaV1.8 channels. Erk1/2 inhibitors abrogated this increase. Importantly, intradermal injection of bFGF in rats induced Erk1/2-dependent mechanical hyperalgesia. Perspective: Analyzing intracellular signaling dynamics in nociceptive neurons has proven to be a powerful approach to identify novel modulators of pain. In addition to describing a new sensitizing factor, our findings indicate the potential to investigate wound-healing factors for their role in nociception.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884291453&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pain.2013.07.005
DO - 10.1016/j.pain.2013.07.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 23867734
AN - SCOPUS:84884291453
SN - 0304-3959
VL - 154
SP - 2216
EP - 2226
JO - Pain
JF - Pain
IS - 10
ER -