Abstract
Neuropathic pain arises from peripheral nerve injury-induced loss of GABAergic controls in the spinal cord dorsal horn, resulting in ongoing, often burning pain, and mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity. Here we describe a powerful method for the long-term relief of neuropathic pain based on the rebuilding of lost inhibitory controls after partial peripheral nerve injury. The method, spinal cord transplantation of precursors of embryonic cortical GABAergic interneurons, involves two major steps: first, we harvest and mechanically dissociate inhibitory cells from the embryonic medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) of mice. Second, in adult mice that manifest mechanical hypersensitivity (allodynia) secondary to peripheral nerve injury, we expose the lumbar spinal cord by laminectomy and then stereotaxically inject the dissociated cells into the dorsal horn. Our studies have demonstrated that 2 weeks posttransplantation, MGE cells are fully differentiated into mature GABAergic interneurons and have functionally integrated into the host spinal circuitry.
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Braz, J.M., Basbaum, A.I. (2022). Intraspinal Transplantation of Precursors of Cortical GABAergic Interneurons to Treat Neuropathic Pain . In: Seal, R.P. (eds) Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Pain. Neuromethods, vol 178. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2039-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2039-7_9
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Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2038-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2039-7
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