Expression and action of cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase Ialpha in inflammatory hyperalgesia in rat spinal cord

Several lines of evidence have shown a role for the nitric oxide/cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling pathway in the development of spinal hyperalgesia. However, the roles of effectors for cyclic guanosine monophosphate are not fully understood in the processing of pain in the spinal cord. The present study showed that cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase Ialpha but not Ibeta was localized in the neuronal bodies and processes, and was distributed primarily in the superficial laminae of the spinal cord. Intrathecal administration of a selective inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase Ialpha, Rp-8-[(4-chlorophenyl)thio]-cGMPS triethylamine, produced a significant antinociception demonstrated by the decrease in the number of flinches and shakes in the formalin test. This was accompanied by a marked reduction in formalin-induced c-fos expression in the spinal dorsal horn. Moreover, cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase Ialpha protein expression was dramatically increased in the lumbar spinal cord 96 h after injection of formalin into a hindpaw, which occurred mainly in the superficial laminae on the ipsilateral side of a formalin-injected hindpaw. This up-regulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase Ialpha expression was completely blocked not only by a neuronal nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole, and a soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor, 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one, but also by an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, dizocilpine maleate (MK-801). The present results indicate that noxious stimulation not only initially activates but also later up-regulates cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase Ialpha expression in the superficial laminae via an N-methyl-D-aspartate-nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling pathway, suggesting that cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase Ialpha may play an important role in the central mechanism of formalin-induced inflammatory hyperalgesia in the spinal cord.