Search results for "dorsal root ganglion"
showing 10 items of 19 documents
Nerve Root and Types of Needles Used in Transforaminal Injections
2014
The use of transforaminal epidural injections of steroids is common practice in pain medicine, in patients with radicular pain resistant to conventional treatments such as physiotherapy or anti-inflammatory medications. The goal of these injections is to deposit steroids in the proximity of nerve roots, using the epidural or the transforaminal route. The procedure is performed using a translaminar, caudal, or transforaminal approach.
Co-expression of heat sensitive vanilloid receptor subtypes in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons
2003
Expression of the heat sensitive cation channels TRPV1 and TRPV2 was investigated by immunofluorescence in rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. TRPV1-positive neurons were more frequent and had smaller diameters than TRPV2-positive neurons (35.7% vs 7.3%; 22.3 microm vs 27.6 microm), but size distributions overlapped and significant co-expression was seen in 20.7% of TRPV2-positive neurons (1.7% of all). Expression patterns did not differ between tissue sections typically used in immunocytochemistry and dissociated DRG neurons typically used in electrophysiology. Rectangular temperature pulses revealed two patterns of heat-evoked inward currents in small DRG neurons: low-threshold rapidl…
Histone post-translational modifications as potential therapeutic targets for pain management
2021
Effective pharmacological management of pain associated with tissue pathology is an unmet medical need. Transcriptional modifications in nociceptive pathways are pivotal for the development and the maintenance of pain associated with tissue damage. Accumulating evidence has shown the importance of the epigenetic control of transcription in nociceptive pathways via histone post-translational modifications (PTMs). Hence, histone PTMs could be targets for novel effective analgesics. Here, we discuss the current understanding of histone PTMs in the modulation of gene expression affecting nociception and pain phenotypes following tissue injury. We also provide a critical view of the translationa…
Distribution of origin of nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the rat epididymis.
1996
Abstract Distribution of neuronal nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive (nNOS-IR) nerve fibers and somata in the rat epididymis and major pelvic ganglia was studied by immunohistochemical methods. In the epididymis, the supply of nNOS-IR fibers was highest in the cauda and became progressively fewer toward the caput. In the cauda and corpus, nNOS-IR fibers were distributed throughout the subepithelial tissues and around the epithelium. The pattern of distribution of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)- and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive fibers in the epididymis was similar but the latter was generally more numerous in a given region as compared to that of nNOS-IR fibers. A popu…
DNA Methylation and Non-Coding RNAs during Tissue-Injury Associated Pain.
2022
While about half of the population experience persistent pain associated with tissue damages during their lifetime, current symptom-based approaches often fail to reduce such pain to a satisfactory level. To provide better patient care, mechanism-based analgesic approaches must be developed, which necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the nociceptive mechanism leading to tissue injury-associated persistent pain. Epigenetic events leading the altered transcription in the nervous system are pivotal in the maintenance of pain in tissue injury. However, the mechanisms through which those events contribute to the persistence of pain are not fully understood. This review provides a summar…
Inward currents in primary nociceptive neurons of the rat and pain sensations in humans elicited by infrared diode laser pulses
2002
Radiant heat is often used to study nociception in vivo. We now used infrared radiation generated by a diode laser stimulator (wavelength 980 nm) to investigate transduction mechanisms for noxious heat stimuli in acutely dissociated dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons of rats in vitro. The laser stimulator offered the unique opportunity to test whether the same stimuli also elicit pain sensations in humans. A specific heat-induced current (I(heat)) was elicited in six of 13 small DRG neurons (diameteror =30 microm) tested in the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp mode. Current responses in the seven heat-insensitive neurons were within the range explainable by the temperature depend…
Sensory neuropathy in progressive motor neuronopathy(pmn)mice is associated with defects in microtubule polymerization and axonal transport
2016
Motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are now recognized as multi-system disorders also involving various non-motor neuronal cell types. The precise extent and mechanistic basis of non-motor neuron damage in human ALS and ALS animal models remain however unclear. To address this, we here studied progressive motor neuronopathy (pmn) mice carrying a missense loss-of-function mutation in tubulin binding cofactor E (TBCE). These mice manifest a particularly aggressive form of motor axon dying back and display a microtubule loss, similar to that induced by human ALS-linked TUBA4A mutations. Using whole nerve confocal imaging of pmn × thy1.2-YFP16 fluorescent reporter …
Generalised sensory system abnormalities in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a European multicentre study.
2007
International audience; BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is defined as a disease of the motor neurones, although several studies indicate involvement of the sensory nervous system. AIM: To evaluate the sensory nerve conduction studies (NCS) in 88 patients with ALS as part of a European multicentre study. METHODS: Seven European clinical neurophysiologists examined consecutive series of ALS patients. The examinations were peer reviewed, and the diagnosis of ALS was confirmed clinically. RESULTS: 20 (22.7%) patients with ALS had sensory NCS abnormalities in at least one nerve. Of those, 11 (12.5% of all patients) obtained an additional peer review diagnosis of electrophysiologi…
Neuropeptides in Primary Afferent Neurons
1990
Traditionally, the primary sensory neurons, having their perikarya in the spinal or cranial sensory ganglia with processes directed towards the periphery and the central nervous system, have been regarded to function as receptive and afferent systems which reflexly activate central effector systems.1 This, however, does not apply to the small diameter primary afferents as suggested by the observation made about a century ago that antidromic stimulation of transected dorsal roots or sensory nerves caused vasodilatation and inflammatory signs in the skin.2,3 The novel concept which has been confirmed by many investigators ascribes to small diameter (particularly unmyelinated C) primary sensor…
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and its soluble receptor support survival of sensory neurons
1999
The cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) has multiple functions in the immune and hematopoietic systems. IL-6 is related to ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), a trophic factor for motoneurons, sensory dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, and other neuronal subpopulations. Both act via related receptor complexes, consisting of one ligand-specific α-receptor subunit (IL-6R and CNTFR, respectively) and two signal-transducing receptor components. Even though IL-6 is expressed by neurons and glia, the functions of IL-6 in the nervous system are poorly understood. Here, we report that exogenous human IL-6 promotes the survival of dissociated newborn rat DRG neurons in vitro if supplemented with soluble …