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Enhanced thermal avoidance in mice lacking the ATP receptor P2X3
Isao Shimizu1, Tohko Iida, Yun Guan
1Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 408 Biophysics Building, 725 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Pain
|June 2, 2005
Summary
Mice lacking the P2X3 receptor show altered responses to temperature. Despite reduced spinal cord neuron activity to heat, these mice avoid extreme hot and cold, indicating complex thermosensation roles.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Biology
Background:
- P2X3 receptors are ATP-gated cation channels on sensory neurons.
- Previous studies suggested P2X3 involvement in processing warm stimuli.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of P2X3 receptors in thermosensation using behavioral and electrophysiological methods.
- To explore the function of P2X3 in coding peripheral thermal stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Examined behavioral responses to thermal stimuli in P2X3 knockout mice.
- Performed in vivo spinal cord recordings in P2X3 knockout mice.
- Utilized thermal gradient and tail immersion tests.
Main Results:
- P2X3 knockout mice showed blunted neuronal responses to hind paw heating in the spinal cord.
- Mutant mice exhibited enhanced avoidance of both hot and cold temperatures in thermal gradients.
- Shorter tail withdrawal latencies were observed in mutant mice at temperatures above and below thermoneutrality.
- Increased spinal cord c-FOS expression was noted in mutant mice after heating.
Conclusions:
- P2X3 knockout mice display both reduced and enhanced thermosensory phenotypes.
- The study highlights the utility of thermal preference assays for analyzing thermosensation.
- Potential compensatory mechanisms in P2X3 knockout mice warrant further investigation.