Background And Aims: Colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) is a growth factor secreted by dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons important for DRG macrophages and spinal cord (SC) microglia injury-induced proliferation and activation, specifically released after spared nerve injury (SNI). In this study, we investigated if SNI-induced CSF1 expression and perineuronal rings of macrophages around mouse DRG neurons vary between L3-L5 DRG and with the neuronal type, and if the CSF1 neuronal projections at the SC dorsal horns were associated with an increased microglial number in the corresponding laminae.
Methods: Seven days after surgery, L3-L5 DRG as well as their corresponding segments at the SC level were collected, frozen, and cut.
Resident macrophages from dorsal root ganglia are important for the development of traumatic-induced neuropathic pain. In the first 5-7 days after a traumatic sciatic nerve injury (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraumatic peripheral neuropathic pain is a complex syndrome caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the peripheral nervous system. Secondary to the lesion, resident or infiltrating macrophages proliferate and initiate a cross-talk with the sensory neurons, at the level of peripheral nerves and sensory ganglia. The neuron-macrophage interaction, which starts very early after the lesion, is very important for promoting pain development and for initiating changes that will facilitate the chronicization of pain, but it also has the potential to facilitate the resolution of injury-induced changes and, consequently, promote the reduction of pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIba1 (ionized calcium binding adapter protein 1) is a cytoskeleton protein specific only for microglia and macrophages, where it acts as an actin-cross linking protein. Although frequently regarded as a marker of activation, its involvement in cell migration, membrane ruffling, phagocytosis or in microglia remodeling during immunological surveillance of the brain suggest that Iba1 is not a simple cytoskeleton protein, but a signaling molecule involved in specific signaling pathways. In this study we investigated if Iba1 could also represent a drug target, and tested the hypothesis that its specific silencing with customized Iba1-siRNA can modulate microglia functioning.
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