Spinal neurons mediate return of substance P following deafferentation of cat spinal cord

Deafferentation of the cat dorsal horn by complete unilateral lumbosacral dorsal rhizotomy produces a loss and subsequent partial recovery of substance P (SP) immunoreactivity as visualized by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique. The present experiments aimed to determine whether this return of SP represents a generalized response of all fiber systems afferent to the denervated segments or a more selective response of a specific spinal system. Although a contribution from other sources cannot be excluded by this qualitative immunocytochemical technique, several observations indicate that the return of SP staining depends on interneurons which contain SP immunoreactivity: (1) the amount of SP staining in the chronically deafferented dorsal horn deprived of extrinsic fiber systems is comparable to that seen after deafferentation alone; (2) SP-containing neurons are present within the lumbar segments; and (3) destruction of lumbar neurons by the intraspinal injection of kainic acid abolishes SP staining from the chronically deafferented dorsal horn. From these observations it would appear that the anatomical plasticity of SP-containing fibers in the deafferented dorsal horn is due to the response of a particular system rather than to a generalized response of all systems which terminate there.