| Literature DB >> 15026153 |
Katarzyna Starowicz1, Wiktor Bilecki, Agnieszka Sieja, Barbara Przewlocka, Ryszard Przewlocki.
Abstract
Recent reports have demonstrated effectiveness of melanocortin antagonists as potent analgesics, and have suggested that the spinal melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4-R) mediates their effects on pain transmission. These findings prompted us to investigate the changes in MC4-R mRNA level in the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of neuropathic animals at different time points after sciatic nerve injury by quantitative real-time PCR. The spinal MC4-R mRNA level was not affected by sciatic nerve injury. In contrast, down-regulation of MC4-R mRNA in DRG developed 2 weeks after the injury and was parallel with the attenuated effectiveness of MC4-R ligands in neuropathic animals. The MC4-R adaptation in DRG observed in neuropathic rats indicates their important role in presynaptic modulation of activity of the primary afferents in neuropathic pain.Entities:
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Year: 2004 PMID： 15026153 DOI： 10.1016/j.neulet.2003.12.096
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Neurosci Lett ISSN： 0304-3940 Impact factor: 3.046