Spinal morphine but not ziconotide or gabapentin analgesia is affected by alternative splicing of voltage-gated calcium channel CaV2.2 pre-mRNA.

ABSTRACT: Presynaptic voltage-gated calcium Ca(V)2.2 channels play a privileged role in spinal level sensitization following peripheral nerve injury. Direct and indirect inhibitors of Ca(V)2.2 channel activity in spinal dorsal horn are analgesic in chronic pain states. Ca(V)2.2 channels represent a family of splice isoforms that are expressed in different combinations according to cell-type. A pair of mutually exclusive exons in the Ca(V)2.2 encoding Cacna1b gene, e37a and e37b, differentially influence morphine analgesia. In mice that lack exon e37a, which is enriched in nociceptors, the analgesic efficacy of intrathecal morphine against noxious thermal stimuli is reduced. Here we ask if sequences unique to e37a influence: the development of abnormal thermal and mechanical sensitivity associated wi

SUBMITTER: Jiang YQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3916075 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature