Upregulation of the sodium channel NaVβ4 subunit and its contributions to mechanical hypersensitivity and neuronal hyperexcitability in a rat model of radicular pain induced by local dorsal root ganglion inflammation.

High-frequency spontaneous firing in myelinated sensory neurons plays a key role in initiating pain behaviors in several different models, including the radicular pain model in which the rat lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRG) are locally inflamed. The sodium channel isoform NaV1.6 contributes to pain behaviors and spontaneous activity in this model. Among all isoforms in adult DRG, NaV1.6 is the main carrier of tetrodotoxin-sensitive resurgent Na currents that allow high-frequency firing. Resurgent currents flow after a depolarization or action potential, as a blocking particle exits the pore. In most neurons, the regulatory β4 subunit is potentially the endogenous blocker. We used in vivo siRNA-mediated knockdown of NaVβ4 to examine its role in the DRG inflammation model. NaVβ4 but not control siRNA almost completely blocked mechanical hypersensitivity induced by DRG inflammation. Microelectrode recordings in isolated whole DRG showed that NaVβ4 siRNA blocked the inflammation-induced increase in spontaneous activity of Aβ neurons and reduced repetitive firing and other measures of excitability. NaVβ4 was preferentially expressed in larger diameter cells; DRG inflammation increased its expression, and this was reversed by NaVβ4 siRNA, based on immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. NaVβ4 siRNA also reduced immunohistochemical NaV1.6 expression. Patch-clamp recordings of tetrodotoxin-sensitive Na currents in acutely cultured medium diameter DRG neurons showed that DRG inflammation increased transient and especially resurgent current, effects blocked by NaVβ4 siRNA. NaVβ4 may represent a more specific target for pain conditions that depend on myelinated neurons expressing NaV1.6.