Critical role of the capsaicin-sensitive nerve fibers in the development of the causalgic symptoms produced by transecting some but not all of the nerves innervating the rat tail

Yang In Kim, Heung Sik Na, Jung Soo Han, Seung Kil Hong

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    44 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We investigated the role of capsaicin-sensitive small diameter fibers in the development of the thermal and mechanical allodynia in a new rat model for neuropathic pain, produced by transacting some but not all of the nerves innervating the tail. Capsaicin (50 mg/kg, s.c.) injected neonatally prior to the nerve injury produced thermal hypoalgesia in the tail the degree of which was variable across individual rats, presumably as a result of variable degeneration of the small diameter fibers. When subjected to the nerve injury, the animals with moderate thermal hypoalgesia exhibited signs of pain (e.g., tail flick) to normally innocuous mechanical stimuli applied to the tall with von Fray hairs (4.9 mN or 19.6 mN bending force), but not to thermal stimuli given by immersion of the tall into cold (4°C) or warm (40°C) water. The animals with marked thermal hypoalgesia, on the other hand, exhibited no signs of pain either to the mechanical or to the thermal stimuli. These results suggest that the capsaicin-sensitive fibers are critical in the development of both the mechanical and thermal allodynia. It is hypothesized that the destruction of Aδ- and C-nociceptive fibers by capsaicin prevented activities induced in these fibers by the nerve injury from producing a central sensitization and thus allodynia.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)4133-4139
    Number of pages7
    JournalJournal of Neuroscience
    Volume15
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1995 Jun

    Keywords

    • C- fibers
    • allodynia
    • animal model
    • capsaicin
    • causalgia
    • neuropathic pain
    • spinal cord

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Neuroscience

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