Single-nucleus transcriptomic analysis of the amygdala of mice in acute and chronic neuropathic pain
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE254360 | GEO | 2025/06/13
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Chronic pain, a complex multidimensional disorder, remains a major health care issue and a therapeutic challenge. Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain condition that results from damage or dysfunction in the nervous system. While mechanisms of neuropathic pain at the peripheral and spinal cord level have been extensively studied, pain mechanisms in the brain remain underexplored. The amygdala, a limbic brain region, has emerged as a critical brain area for the emotional-affective dimension of pain and pain modulation. Amygdala neuroplasticity has been associated with pain states, but exact molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these states and the transition from acute to chronic pain are not well understood.We used an integrative approach that focuses on functional significance and cell type specificity of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to nominate mechanistic targets for central regulation of chronic pain. Our integrative transcriptomic and bioinformatic analyses identified individual genes (e.g., Cxcl10, Cxcl12, Mbp, Plp1, Mag, Mog, Slc17a6, Gad1, Sst), molecular pathways (e.g., cytokine-mediated signaling pathway), biological processes (e.g., myelination, synaptic transmission), and specific cell types (e.g., oligodendrocytes, glutamatergic and GABA-ergic neurons) affected by chronic pain. Our results also provide evidence for the emerging concept of hemispheric lateralization of pain processing in the amygdala. Overall, our study proposes oligodendrocyte dysfunction in the amygdala, neuroimmune signaling in CeA, and glutamatergic neurotransmission in BLA as mechanistic determinants of and potential therapeutic targets for the management of chronic neuropathic pain.
2026-04-10 | GSE325961 | GEO
Project description:Peripheral nerve injury alters the expression of hundreds of proteins in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Targeting some of these proteins has led to successful treatments for acute pain, but not for sustained postoperative neuropathic pain. The latter may require targeting multiple proteins. Since a single microRNA (miR) can affect the expression of multiple proteins, here, we describe an approach to identify chronic neuropathic pain-relevant miRs. We used two variants of the spared nerve injury (SNI): Sural-SNI and Tibial-SNI and found distinct pain phenotypes between the two. Both models induced strong mechanical allodynia, but only Sural-SNI rats maintained strong mechanical and cold allodynia, as previously reported. In contrast, we found that Tibial-SNI rats recovered from mechanical allodynia and never developed cold allodynia. Since both models involve nerve injury, we increased the probability of identifying differentially regulated miRs that correlated with the quality and magnitude of neuropathic pain and decreased the probability of detecting miRs that are solely involved in neuronal regeneration. We found seven such miRs in L3-L5 DRG. The expression of these miRs increased in Tibial-SNI. These miRs displayed a lower level of expression in Sural-SNI, with four having levels lower than those in sham animals. Bioinformatics analysis of how these miRs could affect the expression of some ion channels supports the view that, following a peripheral nerve injury, the increase of the 7 miRs may contribute to the recovery from neuropathic pain while the decrease of four of them may contribute to the development of chronic neuropathic pain. The approach used resulted in the identification of a small number of potentially neuropathic pain relevant miRs. Additional studies are required to investigate whether manipulating the expression of the identified miRs in primary sensory neurons can prevent or ameliorate chronic neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injuries. To identify the miRs that were differentially dysregulated between Tibial-SNI and Sural-SNI, we first performed 12 microarrays in a limited number of samples (in four individual DRGs per group: Sham, Tibial-SNI and Sural-SNI; two L3-DRG and two L4-DRG). Then, miRs identified as having differential expression were corroborated with real time qRT-PCR in RNA isolated from individual DRGs (L3, L4 and L5) derived from 4 rats per group (not presented here, but in the manuscript).
2014-09-29 | E-GEOD-60033 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:This program addresses the gene signature associated with DRG in the Chung rat model for neuropathic pain. The Chung neuropathic pain profiling data was analyzed by identifying genes that were up- and down-regulated at selected p value and fold change in DRG of the Sprague Dawley rats following spinal nerve ligation compared to the sham-operated controls.
2013-03-22 | E-GEOD-38038 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Here we show that importin alpha (α) 3 (KPNA4) controls pain responsiveness in peripheral sensory neurons. An importin α3 knockout mouse showed reduced responsiveness to noxious heat or chemical pain, as well as greater tolerance to neuropathic pain. Similar findings were obtained upon acute knockdown of importin α3 in peripheral sensory neurons. Transcriptome analyses and immunohistochemistry indicated that importin α 3 deficient neurons were impaired in nuclear import of c-Fos. Forty days after spared nerve injury acute down-regulation of importin α3, c-FOS, Jun and the dominat negative AAV9 viruses rescue the neuropathic pain phenotype. In silico screens identified importin α3 deficiency mimicking drug leads that attenuated neuropathic pain and reduced c-Fos nuclear localization. Hence, perturbing c-Fos nuclear import by importin α3 can provide analgesia at peripheral loci in the nervous system
2020-08-17 | GSE137515 | GEO
Project description:Chronic neuropathic pain is a major morbidity of neural injury, yet its mechanisms are incompletely understood. Hypersensitivity to previously non-noxious stimuli (allodynia) is a common symptom. Here, we demonstrate that the onset of cold hypersensitivity precedes tactile allodynia and this temporal divergence was associated with major differences in global gene expression in dorsal root ganglia. Transcripts whose expression correlate with the onset of cold allodynia were nociceptor-related whereas those correlating with tactile hypersensitivity were enriched for immune cell activity. Selective ablation of TrpV1 lineage nociceptors resulted in mice that did not acquire cold allodynia but developed normal tactile hypersensitivity. Whereas depletion of macrophages or T cells reduced neuropathic tactile allodynia but not cold hypersensitivity. We conclude that neuropathic pain is contributed to by reactive processes of sensory neurons and immune cells, each leading to distinct forms of pain hypersensitivity, potentially allowing effective drug development targeted to each pain modality.
2018-01-19 | GSE102721 | GEO
Project description:Treating neuropathic pain is challenging and novel non-opioid based medicines are needed. Using unbiased receptomics, transcriptomic analyses, immunofluorescence and in situ hybridization, expression of the orphan GPCR (oGPCR) GPR160 increased in the rodent dorsal horn of the spinal cord (DH-SC) following traumatic nerve injury. Genetic and immunopharmacological approaches demonstrated that GPR160 inhibition in the spinal cord prevented and reversed neuropathic pain in male and female rodents without altering normal pain response. GPR160 inhibition in the spinal cord attenuated sensory processing in the thalamus, a key relay in the sensory discriminative pathways of pain. We also identified cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript peptide (CARTp) as a GPR160 ligand. Inhibiting endogenous CARTp signaling in spinal cord attenuated neuropathic pain, whereas exogenous intrathecal (i.th.) CARTp evoked painful hypersensitivity through GPR160-dependent ERK and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). Our findings de-orphanize GPR160, identify it as a determinant of neuropathic pain and potential therapeutic target, and provide insights to its signaling pathways. CARTp is involved in many diseases including depression, reward and addiction, de-orphanization of GPR160 is a major step forward understanding the role of CARTp signaling in health and disease.
2020-02-20 | GSE143895 | GEO
Project description:Chronic neuropathic pain is a major morbidity of neural injury, yet its mechanisms are incompletely understood. Hypersensitivity to previously non-noxious stimuli (allodynia) is a common symptom. Here, we demonstrate that the onset of cold hypersensitivity precedes tactile allodynia and this temporal divergence was associated with major differences in global gene expression in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Transcripts whose expression correlate with the onset of cold allodynia were nociceptor-related, whereas those correlating with tactile hypersensitivity were enriched for immune cell activity. Selective ablation of TrpV1 lineage nociceptors resulted in mice that did not acquire cold allodynia but developed normal tactile hypersensitivity. Whereas, depletion of macrophages or T cells reduced neuropathic tactile allodynia but not cold hypersensitivity. We conclude that neuropathic pain is contributed to by reactive processes of sensory neurons and immune cells, each leading to distinct forms of pain hypersensitivity, potentially allowing effective drug development targeted to each pain modality.
2018-01-19 | GSE89224 | GEO
Project description:Chronic pain arises from an imbalance between excitation and inhibition. For chronic pain caused by peripheral nerve injury, sensory neuron damage leads to changes in spinal pain transduction, where enhanced excitatory and/or loss of inhibitory pathways can drive pain diseases. At the cellular level, the transcriptional changes occurring in entrenched chronic pain are largely unknown. Here we use single nuclei and spatial transcriptomic approaches to investigate the cellular and molecular causes of entrenched and treated neuropathic pain. Our data show that nerve injury leads to broad upregulation of spinal synaptic and excitatory pathways in dorsal neuronal and glial populations. We confirm these core populations are conserved in the human spinal cord, and show an effective pain therapy acts by dampening these neuropathic transcriptional programs. Overall, our data provides the first high resolution transcriptional analysis of the neuropathic spinal cord, highlighting known and novel pathways that may help us better manage pain diseases.
2026-04-28 | GSE328700 | GEO
Project description:Chronic pain arises from an imbalance between excitation and inhibition. For chronic pain caused by peripheral nerve injury, sensory neuron damage leads to changes in spinal pain transduction, where enhanced excitatory and/or loss of inhibitory pathways can drive pain diseases. At the cellular level, the transcriptional changes occurring in entrenched chronic pain are largely unknown. Here we use single nuclei and spatial transcriptomic approaches to investigate the cellular and molecular causes of entrenched and treated neuropathic pain. Our data show that nerve injury leads to broad upregulation of spinal synaptic and excitatory pathways in dorsal neuronal and glial populations. We confirm these core populations are conserved in the human spinal cord, and show an effective pain therapy acts by dampening these neuropathic transcriptional programs. Overall, our data provides the first high resolution transcriptional analysis of the neuropathic spinal cord, highlighting known and novel pathways that may help us better manage pain diseases.
2026-04-28 | GSE325938 | GEO
Project description:Chronic pain arises from an imbalance between excitation and inhibition. For chronic pain caused by peripheral nerve injury, sensory neuron damage leads to changes in spinal pain transduction, where enhanced excitatory and/or loss of inhibitory pathways can drive pain diseases. At the cellular level, the transcriptional changes occurring in entrenched chronic pain are largely unknown. Here we use single nuclei and spatial transcriptomic approaches to investigate the cellular and molecular causes of entrenched and treated neuropathic pain. Our data show that nerve injury leads to broad upregulation of spinal synaptic and excitatory pathways in dorsal neuronal and glial populations. We confirm these core populations are conserved in the human spinal cord, and show an effective pain therapy acts by dampening these neuropathic transcriptional programs. Overall, our data provides the first high resolution transcriptional analysis of the neuropathic spinal cord, highlighting known and novel pathways that may help us better manage pain diseases.
2026-04-28 | GSE328175 | GEO