Sm. Carlton et Re. Coggeshall, Peripheral capsaicin receptors increase in the inflamed rat hindpaw: a possible mechanism for peripheral sensitization, NEUROSCI L, 310(1), 2001, pp. 53-56
The vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1) is activated by capsaicin, heat and protons
and is localized on primary sensory neurons. The present study investigates
whether VR1 increases in the inflamed hindpaw thereby contributing to the
peripheral sensitization and heat hyperalgesia that characterizes the infla
med state. Forty-eight hours after intraplantar injection of Complete Freun
d's Adjuvant into one hindpaw, there is a significant increase in the propo
rtion of VR1-labeled unmyelinated axons in digital nerves in the inflamed (
32.8 +/- 5.9%) compared to normal (17.1 +/- 2.6%) hindpaws (t-test, P < 0.0
1). A few, small diameter myelinated axons are labeled in normal and inflam
ed rats with no change in percentages following inflammation. The data sugg
est that an increase in number of unmyelinated sensory axons expressing VR1
may be one mechanism underlying peripheral sensitization of nociceptors in
inflammation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.