Sex-, Pain Chronicity- and Cell type-Specific Gene Expression Changes in the Prefrontal Cortex in a Mouse Model of Neuropathic Pain
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE344046 | GEO | 2026/08/25
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Neuropathic pain is a prevalent and debilitating chronic disease that is characterized by activation in glial cells in various pain-related regions within the central nervous system. Recent studies have suggested a sexually dimorphic role of microglia in the maintenance of neuropathic pain in rodents. Here, we utilized RNA sequencing analysis of microglia to identify whether there is a common neuropathic microglial signature and characterize the sex differences in microglia in pain-related regions in nerve injury and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy mouse models. Whilst mechanical allodynia and behavioral changes were observed in all models, transcriptomic analysis of microglia revealed no common transcriptional changes in spinal and supraspinal regions and in different neuropathic models. However, there was a substantial change in microglial gene expression within the ipsilateral lumbar spinal cord 7-days after chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Both sexes upregulated genes associated with inflammation, phagosome, and lysosome activation, though males revealed a prominent global transcriptional shift not observed in female mice. This study demonstrates a lack of a common neuropathic microglial signature and indicates distinct sex differences in spinal microglia, suggesting they contribute to the sex-specific pain processing following nerve injury.
2021-07-27 | GSE180627 | GEO
Project description:Chronic pain is associated with persistent but reversible structural and functional changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC). This stable yet malleable plasticity implicates epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, as a potential mediator of chronic pain-induced changes. We have previously demonstrated that chronic oral administration of the methyl donor S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) is capable of attenuating long-term peripheral neuropathic pain and affecting global PFC DNA methylation. However, there was no evidence as of yet that alterations in DNA methylation underlie SAM-mediated pain attenuation. To elucidate these mechanisms, we performed epigenome-wide analysis of mouse PFC after 4 months of SAM treatment initiated 3 months following induction of peripheral nerve injury. Over injury triggered chronic pain was associated with 4000 differentially methylated genomic regions which were enriched in intracellular signaling, cell locomotion and migration, cytoskeletal structure, and cell adhesion pathways. A third of the regions that were differentially methylated in chronic pain mice (1415 regions representing 1030 genes) were reversed by SAM treatment. 100 genes with known pain-related function were differentially methylated following nerve injury; several of which were reversed by SAM treatment. These results demonstrate that DNA methylation alterations in the PFC caused by chronic pain and reversed by SAM treatment providing at least partially a mechanism of action. These data point to the possibility of epigenetic modulators such as SAM as novel approach to treat chronic pain.
2020-11-24 | GSE162016 | GEO
Project description:Neuropathic pain is a chronic debilitating condition with a high comorbidity with depression. Clinical reports and animal studies have suggested that both the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are critically implicated in regulating the affective symptoms of neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain induces long-term structural, functional and biochemical changes in both regions, which are thought to be regulated by multiple waves of gene transcription. However, the similarity and differences in the transcriptomic profiles changed by neuropathic pain between these regions are largely unknown. Furthermore, women are more susceptible to pain and depression than men. The molecular mechanisms underlying this sexual dimorphism remain to be explored. Here, we performed RNA sequencing and analyzed the transcriptomic profiles of the mPFC and ACC of female and male mice at 2 weeks after spared nerve injury (SNI), an early time point when the mice began to show mild depressive symptoms. Our results show that the SNI-induced transcriptomic changes in female and male mice are largely distinct. Interestingly, the female mice exhibit more robust transcriptomic changes in the ACC than male, whereas the opposite pattern occurs in the mPFC. Cell type enrichment analyses reveal that the differentially expressed genes involve genes enriched in both neurons and various types of glia. We further performed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), which reveal significant de-enrichment of myelin sheath development in both female and male mPFC after SNI. In the female ACC, gene sets for synaptic organization and mitochondria function are enriched, and gene sets for extracellular matrix are de-enriched after SNI, while such signatures are absent in male ACC. Collectively, these findings reveal sexual dimorphism at the transcriptional level induced by neuropathic pain, and provide novel therapeutic targets for chronic pain and its associated affective disorders.
2022-04-03 | GSE197233 | GEO
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:Sex-, Pain Chronicity- and Cell type-Specific Gene Expression Changes in the Prefrontal Cortex in a Mouse Model of Neuropathic Pain
| PRJNA1514150 | ENA
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:• Project description: Why only half of the idiopathic peripheral polyneuropathy (IPN) patients develop neuropathic pain is unknown. By conducting a proteomics analysis on IPN patients, we aimed to discover proteins and new pathways that are associated with neuropathic pain. We conducted unbiased mass-spectrometry proteomics analysis on blood plasma from 31 IPN patients with severe neuropathic pain and 29 IPN patients with no pain, to investigate protein biomarkers and protein-protein interactions associated with neuropathic pain. Univariate modeling was done with Linear mixed modeling (LMM) and corrected for multiple testing. Multivariate modelling was performed using elastic net analysis and validated with internal cross validation and bootstrapping.
2025-02-19 | PXD046464 | Pride
Project description:Ongoing nociceptive inputs from peripheral tissues and nerve injuries lead to maladaptive alterations in central nervous system, which drive the transition from acute to chronic pain. Although astrocytes act as dynamic and active players in neuropathic pain states, the contribution of astrocytes in upper brain nucleus in this process remains unclear. Here, we revealed that prolonged neuronal inputs induced by periphery injury leads to astrocyte reactive and downregulation of inward rectifying potassium channel protein 4.1 (Kir4.1) in paraventricular thalamus（PVT）. In turn, reactive PVT astrocytes could maintain the hyperexcitability of neurons, and enhanced projections from PVT to medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the chronicity of neuropathic pain. Notably, we identify a neuro-glial interaction mediating pain chronification in PVT, and clarified Kir4.1 channels as a potential therapeutic target for neuropathic pain treatment.
2025-05-20 | GSE297165 | GEO
Project description:Neuropathic pain, affecting 10% of the general population, poses a significant socioeconomic burden that current treatment options cannot sufficiently cover. While pain naturally resolves in some patients, the mechanisms driving this process remain elusive. we hypothesized that pain resolution modulates multicellular interactions of neurons, satellite glial cells (SGCs), and local macrophages within the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs). Therefore, we aimed to identify molecular and cellular processes that characterize ongoing pain resolution. With behavioral tests, we determined a 50% improvement of the pain phenotype to capture ongoing mechanisms of pain resolution. We expect to see dysregulated signaling mediators in the DRG, as well as channels and components influencing hypersensitivity, as well as regulation of an immune and inflammatory phenotype. Comparing the ipsilateral sides during hypersensitvity and pain resolution, we aim to elucidate pathways that characterize the resolution phase. Based on prior knowledge and imaging data, we expected to initially see a strong immune phenotype, with differences between male and female rats during pain resolution, potentially reflecting a difference in pain prevalence between sexes in the clinic. Pathway analysis of the bulk RNA data confirmed an ongoing immune phenotype in female rats as opposed to males. Top regulated factors after CCI, include many mediators such as NPY, VIP, Gal, IL24 and IL6. Biological processes associated with pain resolution included G-protein coupled receptor signaling, synaptic transmission and regulation of the membrane potential.
2025-11-14 | GSE278227 | GEO
Project description:Neuropathic pain is an apparently spontaneous experience triggered by abnormal physiology of the peripheral or central nervous system, which evolves with time. Neuropathic pain arising from peripheral nerve injury is characterized by a combination of spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia and allodynia. There is no evidence of this type of pain in human infants or rat pups; brachial plexus avulsion, which causes intense neuropathic pain in adults, is not painful when the injury is sustained at birth. Since infants are capable of nociception from before birth and display both acute and chronic inflammatory pain behaviour from an early neonatal age, it appears that the mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain are differentially regulated over a prolonged postnatal period. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying the differences in nerve injury between along the postnatal development and identified distinct classes of regulated genes during the injury Experiment Overall Design: We have performed a microarray analysis of the rat L4/L5 dorsal root ganglia, 7 days post spared nerve injury, a model of neuropathic pain. Genes that are regulated in adult rats displaying neuropathic behaviour were compared to those regulated in young rats (10 days old) that did not show the same neuropathic behaviour.
2010-01-30 | E-GEOD-15041 | biostudies-arrayexpress