%0 Journal Article
%T Gene transfer of GLT-1, a glial glutamate transporter, into the spinal cord by recombinant adenovirus attenuates inflammatory and neuropathic pain in rats
%A Sanae Maeda
%A Ai Kawamoto
%A Yumi Yatani
%A Hisashi Shirakawa
%A Takayuki Nakagawa
%A Shuji Kaneko
%J Molecular Pain
%D 2008
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1744-8069-4-65
%X Intraspinal infusion of adenoviral vectors expressing the GLT-1 gene increased GLT-1 expression in the spinal cord 2¨C21 days after the infusion. Transgene expression was primarily localized to astrocytes. The spinal GLT-1 gene transfer had no effect on acute mechanical and thermal nociceptive responses in naive rats, whereas it significantly reduced the inflammatory mechanical hyperalgesia induced by hindlimb intraplantar injection of carrageenan/kaolin. Spinal GLT-1 gene transfer 7 days before partial sciatic nerve ligation recovered the extent of the spinal GLT-1 expression in the membrane fraction that was decreased following the nerve ligation, and prevented the induction of tactile allodynia. However, the partial sciatic nerve ligation-induced allodynia was not reversed when the adenoviruses were infused 7 or 14 days after the nerve ligation.These results suggest that overexpression of GLT-1 on astrocytes in the spinal cord by recombinant adenoviruses attenuates the induction, but not maintenance, of inflammatory and neuropathic pain, probably by preventing the induction of central sensitization, without affecting acute pain sensation. Upregulation or functional enhancement of spinal GLT-1 could be a novel strategy for the prevention of pathological pain.Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. The spinal glutamatergic system plays a key role in normal pain transmission and in the induction of central sensitization, the neuronal plasticity underlying pathological pain at the spinal level. Glutamate release in the spinal dorsal horn is elicited following peripheral inflammation or nerve injury [1-5]. Excessive and prolonged stimulation of glutamate receptors, including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), ¦Á-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid/kainate, and metabotropic glutamate receptors, in the spinal dorsal horn neurons triggers the development of the central sensitization that generates and maintains i
%U http://www.molecularpain.com/content/4/1/65