HSP70 contributes to pathogenesis of fulminant hepatitis induced by coronavirus.

Fulminant viral hepatitis (FH) represents a significant clinical challenge, with its pathogenesis not yet fully elucidated. Heat shock protein (HSP)70, a molecular chaperone protein with a broad range of cytoprotective functions, is upregulated in response to stress. However, the role of HSP70 in FH remains to be investigated.

Distinct Thalamo-Subcortical Circuits Underlie Painful Behavior and Depression-Like Behavior Following Nerve Injury.

Clinically, chronic pain and depression often coexist in multiple diseases and reciprocally reinforce each other, which greatly escalates the difficulty of treatment. The neural circuit mechanism underlying the chronic pain/depression comorbidity remains unclear. The present study reports that two distinct subregions in the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) play different roles in this pathological process.

IPAC integrates rewarding and environmental memory during the acquisition of morphine CPP.

The association between rewarding and drug-related memory is a leading factor for the formation of addiction, yet the neural circuits underlying the association remain unclear. Here, we showed that the interstitial nucleus of the posterior limb of the anterior commissure (IPAC) integrated rewarding and environmental memory information by two different receiving projections from ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens shell region (NAcSh) to mediate the acquisition of morphine conditioned place preference (CPP). A projection from the VTA GABAergic neurons (VTA) to the IPAC lateral region GABAergic neurons (IPACL) mediated the effect of morphine rewarding, whereas the pathway from NAcSh dopamine receptor 1-expressing neurons (NAcSh) to the IPAC medial region GABAergic neurons (IPACM) was involved in the acquisition of environmental memory.

COVID-19 Metabolomic-Guided Amino Acid Therapy Protects from Inflammation and Disease Sequelae.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a worldwide pandemic since 2019. A metabolic disorder is a contributing factor to deaths from COVID-19. However, the underlying mechanism of metabolic dysfunction in COVID-19 patients and the potential interventions are not elucidated.

CircFhit Modulates GABAergic Synaptic Transmission via Regulating the Parental Gene Fhit Expression in the Spinal Dorsal Horn in a Rat Model of Neuropathic Pain.

Effective treatments for neuropathic pain are lacking due to our limited understanding of the mechanisms. The circRNAs are mainly enriched in the central nervous system. However, their function in various physiological and pathological conditions have yet to be determined.

Adaptation of prelimbic cortex mediated by IL-6/STAT3/Acp5 pathway contributes to the comorbidity of neuropathic pain and depression in rats.

Background: The adaption of brain region is fundamental to the development and maintenance of nervous system disorders. The prelimbic cortex (PrL) participates in the affective components of the pain sensation. However, whether and how the adaptation of PrL contributes to the comorbidity of neuropathic pain and depression are unknown.

ZEB1 Induces Ddr1 Promoter Hypermethylation and Contributes to the Chronic Pain in Spinal Cord in Rats Following Oxaliplatin Treatment.

Application of chemotherapeutic oxaliplatin represses gene transcription through induction of DNA methylation, which may contribute to oxaliplatin-induced chronic pain. Here, Ddr1, which showed an increased methylation in the promoter, was screened from the SRA methylation database (PRJNA587622) after oxaliplatin treatment. qPCR and MeDIP assays verified that oxaliplatin treatment increased the methylation in Ddr1 promoter region and decreased the expression of DDR1 in the neurons of spinal dorsal horn.

Epigenetic upregulation of hippocampal CXCL12 contributes to context spatial memory-associated morphine conditioning.

Conditioned place preference (CPP) is a learned behavior, in which animals learn to associate environmental contexts with rewarding effects. The formation of CPP is an integrated outcome of multiple learning processes. Although multiple anatomical substrates underlying this contextual learning have been proposed, it remains unknown whether a specific molecular signaling pathway within CA1 mediates context learning associated with morphine conditioning.

TNF-α/STAT3 pathway epigenetically upregulates Nav1.6 expression in DRG and contributes to neuropathic pain induced by L5-VRT.

Background: Studies showed that upregulation of Nav1.6 increased the neuronal excitability and participated in neuropathic pain in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying Nav1.

Epigenetic upregulation of CXCL12 expression contributes to the acquisition and maintenance of morphine-induced conditioned place preference.

Addiction and rewarding effect is a primary side effect of morphine, which is commonly used to relieve the acute or chronic pain. Several lines of evidence have suggested that inflammation response in the VTA contributes to morphine-induced reward (conditioned place preference, CPP), while the mechanism are poorly understood. The present study showed that repeated morphine conditioning persistently increased the expression of CXCL12 mRNA and protein in VTA.

A Comparative study for striatal-direct and -indirect pathway neurons to DA depletion-induced lesion in a PD rat model.

Striatal-direct and -indirect Pathway Neurons showed different vulnerability in basal ganglia disorders. Therefore, present study aimed to examine and compare characteristic changes of densities, protein and mRNA levels of soma, dendrites, and spines between striatal-direct and -indirect pathway neurons after DA depletion by using immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, real-time PCR and immunoelectron microscopy techniques. Experimental results showed that: 1) 6OHDA-induced DA depletion decreased the soma density of striatal-direct pathway neurons (SP+), but no significant changes for striatal-indirect pathway neurons (ENK+).

Palmitoylation of δ-catenin promotes kinesin-mediated membrane trafficking of Na1.6 in sensory neurons to promote neuropathic pain.

Palmitoylation of δ-catenin is critical to synapse plasticity and memory formation. We found that δ-catenin palmitoylation is also instrumental in the development of neuropathic pain. The abundances of palmitoylated δ-catenin and the palmitoyl acyltransferase DHHC3 were increased in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sensory neurons in rat models of neuropathic pain.

Activation of RAGE/STAT3 pathway by methylglyoxal contributes to spinal central sensitization and persistent pain induced by bortezomib.

Bortezomib is a first-line chemotherapeutic drug widely used for multiple myeloma and other nonsolid malignancies. Although bortezomib-induced persistent pain is easily diagnosed in clinic, the pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. Here, we studied this issue with use of a rat model of systemic intraperitoneal administration of bortezomib for consecutive 5days.

Cortical regulation of striatal projection neurons and interneurons in a Parkinson's disease rat model.

Striatal neurons can be either projection neurons or interneurons, with each type exhibiting distinct susceptibility to various types of brain damage. In this study, 6-hydroxydopamine was injected into the right medial forebrain bundle to induce dopamine depletion, and/or ibotenic acid was injected into the M1 cortex to induce motor cortex lesions. Immunohistochemistry and western blot assay showed that dopaminergic depletion results in significant loss of striatal projection neurons marked by dopamine- and cyclic adenosine monophosphate-regulated phosphoprotein, molecular weight 32 kDa, calbindin, and μ-opioid receptor, while cortical lesions reversed these pathological changes.

Epigenetic upregulation of CXCL12 expression mediates antitubulin chemotherapeutics-induced neuropathic pain.

Clinically, Microtubule-targeted agents-induced neuropathic pain hampers chemotherapeutics for patients with cancer. Here, we found that application of paclitaxel or vincristine increased the protein and mRNA expression of CXCL12 and frequency and amplitude of miniature excitatory post synaptic currents (mEPSCs) in spinal dorsal horn neurons. Spinal local application of CXCL12 induced the long-term potentiation of nociceptive synaptic transmission and increased the amplitude of mEPSCs.

The inhibition of spinal synaptic plasticity mediated by activation of AMP-activated protein kinase signaling alleviates the acute pain induced by oxaliplatin.

Our recent findings demonstrated that oxaliplatin entering CNS may directly induce spinal central sensitization, and contribute to the rapid development of CNS-related side effects including acute pain during chemotherapy. However, the mechanism is largely unclear. In the current study, we found that the amplitude of C-fiber-evoked field potentials was significantly increased and the expression of phosphorylated mammalian AMP-activated protein kinase α (AMPKα) was markedly decreased following high frequency stimulation (HFS) or single intraperitoneal injection of oxaliplatin (4mg/kg).

A Comparative Study of Three Interneuron Types in the Rat Spinal Cord.

Interneurons are involved in the physiological function and the pathomechanism of the spinal cord. Present study aimed to examine and compare the characteristics of Cr+, Calb+ and Parv+ interneurons in morphology and distribution by using immunhistochemical and Western blot techniques. Results showed that 1) Cr-Calb presented a higher co-existence rate than that of Cr-Parv, and both of them were higher in the ventral horn than in the dosal horn; 2) Cr+, Calb+ and Parv+ neurons distributing zonally in the superficial dosal horn were small-sized.

mir-500-Mediated GAD67 Downregulation Contributes to Neuropathic Pain.

Unlabelled: Neuropathic pain is a common neurobiological disease involving multifaceted maladaptations ranging from gene modulation to synaptic dysfunction, but the interactions between synaptic dysfunction and the genes that are involved in persistent pain remain elusive. In the present study, we found that neuropathic pain induced by the chemotherapeutic drug paclitaxel or L5 ventral root transection significantly impaired the function of GABAergic synapses of spinal dorsal horn neurons via the reduction of the GAD67 expression. We also found that mir-500 expression was significantly increased and involved in the modulation of GAD67 expression via targeting the specific site of Gad1 gene in the dorsal horn.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Oxaliplatin Contributes to the Acute Pain Induced by Systemic Administration of Oxaliplatin.

Background: Systemic administration of oxaliplatin has no effect on the tumors in the central nervous system (CNS) due to the limited concentration of oxaliplatin in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), while it was clinically reported that oxaliplatin can induce acute encephalopathy. Currently, the impairment of neuronal functions in the CNS after systemic administration of oxaliplatin remains uninvestigated.

Methods: The von Frey test and the plantar test were performed to evaluate neuropathic pain behavior after a single intraperitoneal administration of oxaliplatin (4 mg/kg) in rats.

Up-regulation of CX3CL1 via Nuclear Factor-κB-dependent Histone Acetylation Is Involved in Paclitaxel-induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

Background: Up-regulation of CX3CL1 has been revealed to be involved in the neuropathic pain induced by nerve injury. However, whether CX3CL1 participates in the paclitaxel-induced painful peripheral neuropathy remains unknown. The aim of the current study was to elucidate the involvement of transcriptional factors nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and its causal interaction with CX3CL1 signaling in the paclitaxel-induced painful peripheral neuropathy.

TNF-α-mediated JNK activation in the dorsal root ganglion neurons contributes to Bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Bortezomib (BTZ) is a frequently used chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of refractory multiple myeloma and hematological neoplasms. The mechanism by which the administration of BTZ leads to painful peripheral neuropathy remains unclear. In the present study, we first determined that the administration of BTZ upregulated the expression of TNF-α and phosphorylated JNK1/2 in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of rat.