Are presynaptic GABA-Cρ2 receptors involved in anti-nociception?
R Tadavarty1, J Hwang1, P S Rajput2
1Neuroscience Research Laboratory, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Abstract:
We investigated the anti-nociceptive effects of GABA-C receptors in the central nervous system. Intracisternal injection of CACA, a GABA-C receptor agonist or isoguvacine, a GABA-A receptor agonist, significantly increased the tail-withdrawal latency. TPMPA, a GABA-C receptor antagonist blocked the effects of CACA but not isoguvacine indicating that GABA-C receptors are involved in regulating pain. Further, double-labelled immunofluorescence studies revealed that GABA-Cρ2 receptors are expressed presynaptically in the spinal dorsal horn, especially, substantia gelatinosa, a region that has been previously implicated in analgesia by regulating nociceptive inflow. These data provide a provenance for future work looking at presynaptic spinal GABA-C receptors in the control of nociception.
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