Mechanism underlying chronic pain seen in the animal model for the chronic fatigue syndrome

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15170
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General anatomy (including histology/embryology)
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Kiyama Hiroshi 名古屋大学, 医学系研究科, 教授 (00192021)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 疲労 / 慢性ストレス / 慢性炎症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Our previous study using animal model for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) suggested that the pain observed in patients with CFS and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) involves microglial activation, and therefore in the present study, we investigated the mechanism underlying the pain. Our results suggested that the stress loading elicits continuous and specific hyper-activation of proprioceptors in the dorsal root ganglia, and the hyper-activated signal triggers microglial activation in the specific regions of spinal cord. These activated regions locate along the spinal reflex arc, and the activated microglia along the arc thereby inducing prolonged and abnormal levels of pain. The results indicate that proprioceptor-induced microglial activation may be crucial in the initiation and maintenance of abnormal pain in patients with CFS.

Free Research Field

神経解剖学