In vivo imaging of structural dynamics in the spinal dorsal horn in a neuropathic pain model

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590735
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Pain science
• Research Institution: Kansai Medical University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUMURA Shinji 関西医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (70276393)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ITO Seiji 関西医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (80201325) ; NISHIDA Kazuhiko 関西医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (80448026)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 疼痛 / 多光子励起顕微鏡 / in vivo標本 / 脊髄 / カルシウム / イメージング / in utero遺伝子導入法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We established in vivo calcium imaging of multiple spinal dorsal horn neurons by using a two-photon microscope and extracted three-dimensional neuronal activity maps of these neurons in response to cutaneous sensory stimulation.
We demonstrated inflammation-induced structural changes in dendrites in the spinal dorsal horn of two transgenic mice, expressing yellow fluorescent protein specific to the nervous system over the course of several hours. Structural changes such as the formation of spine-like structures and swelling of dendrites were observed in the spinal dorsal horn within 30 min after the multiple-site injections of complete Freund’s adjuvant, a chemical irritant, to a leg; and these changes continued for 5 h.
The present study first demonstrates by in vivo two-photon microscopy imaging that structural synaptic plasticity occurred in the spinal dorsal horn immediately after the injection of complete Freund’s adjuvant and may be involved in inflammatory pain.

Free Research Field

神経生物学