Sex and hormonal variations in the development of at-level allodynia in a rat chronic spinal cord injury model

作者：Hubscher Charles H^*; Fell Jason D; Gupta Daya S

来源：Neuroscience Letters, 2010, 477(3): 153-156.

DOI：10.1016/j.neulet.2010.04.053

• Neuropathic pain
• Contusion
• Estradiol
• Neuroprotection

The development of central neuropathic pain varies among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). The factors contributing to the development and perpetuation of segmental pain (at-level allodynia) has been the focus of ongoing experiments in our laboratory. One such factor is hormonal status. We have shown previously, using a male rat model of SCI, that a severe contusion injury is necessary for the development of allodynia in trunk regions at and just above the level of a T8 injury. In this study, we examined at-level sensitivity for SCI ovariectomized (ovx) and cycling female rats as well as for SCI males implanted with either a placebo pellet or one that slowly releases 17 beta-estradiol. The proportion of ovx SCI female rats and placebo-treated SCI males displaying pain-like behaviors to touch/pressure of at-level dermatomes up to 6 weeks post-injury (67% and 75%, respectively) was similar to our previous studies on SCI males (69%). In contrast, significantly fewer cycling SCI female rats and 17 beta-estradiol treated SCI male rats showed sensitivity to touch at-level (26% and 30%, respectively). These results implicate 17 beta-estradiol as a potential target that can readily be modulated to prevent segmental pain following SCI.

• 出版日期2010-6-25