Endogenous opioids contribute to insensitivity to pain in humans and mice lacking sodium channel Nav1.7
Loss-of-function mutations in the SCN9A gene encoding voltage-gated sodium channel Na v 1.7 cause congenital insensitivity to pain in humans and mice. Surprisingly, many potent selective antagonists of Na v 1.7 are weak analgesics. We investigated whether Na v 1.7, as well as contributing to electri...
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Published in | Nature communications Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 8967 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
04.12.2015
Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Loss-of-function mutations in the
SCN9A
gene encoding voltage-gated sodium channel Na
v
1.7 cause congenital insensitivity to pain in humans and mice. Surprisingly, many potent selective antagonists of Na
v
1.7 are weak analgesics. We investigated whether Na
v
1.7, as well as contributing to electrical signalling, may have additional functions. Here we report that Na
v
1.7 deletion has profound effects on gene expression, leading to an upregulation of enkephalin precursor
Penk
mRNA and met-enkephalin protein in sensory neurons. In contrast, Na
v
1.8-null mutant sensory neurons show no upregulated
Penk
mRNA expression. Application of the opioid antagonist naloxone potentiates noxious peripheral input into the spinal cord and dramatically reduces analgesia in both female and male Na
v
1.7-null mutant mice, as well as in a human Na
v
1.7-null mutant. These data suggest that Na
v
1.7 channel blockers alone may not replicate the analgesic phenotype of null mutant humans and mice, but may be potentiated with exogenous opioids.
Na
v
1.7 channels are known to regulate pain perception in humans and mice. Here, the authors provide evidence that Na
v
1.7 deletion leads to transcriptional upregulation of opioid peptides in sensory neurons, and that treatment with the opioid blocker naloxone helps reverse analgesia in mice and human Na
v
1.7 nulls. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 PMCID: PMC4686868 These authors contributed equally to this work. |
ISSN: | 2041-1723 2041-1723 |
DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms9967 |