In vivo patch-clamp analysis of spinal GABA-mediated inhibitory system

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670289
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Pain science
• Research Institution: National Institute for Physiological Sciences
• Principal Investigator: FURUE Hidemasa 生理学研究所, 生体情報研究系, 准教授 (20304884)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SEKI Kazuhiko 独立行政法人国立精神, 神経医療研究センター・神経研究所, 部長 (00226630)
• Research Collaborator: IMOTO Keiji 生理学研究所, 所長 (00176512)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 鎮痛 / 疼痛 / シナプス / in vivo パッチクランプ / GABA / 青斑核 / 脊髄

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Plastic changes in pain modulatory system mediated by spinal GABAergic interneurons are known to have an important role to induce chronic pain. The inhibitory system has been detected mainly in rodents. It’s still unknown whether such GABA-mediated inhibitory system is also utilized for analgesic in primate. In the present study, we analyzed nociceptive responses and GABA-mediated inhibitory responses evoked in spinal superficial dorsal horn neurons in marmosets. In vivo patch-clamp and extracellular recordings were made from superficial dorsal horn neurons under deeply anesthetized conditions. Mechanical sensory stimulation evoked excitatory postsynaptic responses and the responses were sensitive to capsaicin. GABA-mediated inhibitory responses were also evoked. These results indicate that capsaicin-sensitive nociceptive circuit and GABAergic inhibitory system exist in the spinal superficial dorsal horn. The present results are useful for the development of new analgesic agents.

Free Research Field

神経生理