Warm Temperature-sensitive Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) Plays an Essential Role in Thermal Hyperalgesia

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 279; no. 34; pp. 35133 - 35138
• Main Authors: Todaka, Hiroshi, Taniguchi, Junichi, Satoh, Jun-ichi, Mizuno, Atsuko, Suzuki, Makoto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 20.08.2004
• Subjects: Animals; Carrageenan - toxicity; Cation Transport Proteins - genetics; Cation Transport Proteins - metabolism; Hot Temperature; Hyperalgesia - chemically induced; Hyperalgesia - genetics; Hyperalgesia - metabolism; Ion Channels - genetics; Ion Channels - metabolism; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Peripheral Nervous System - drug effects; Peripheral Nervous System - metabolism; TRPV Cation Channels
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M406260200

Animals sense various ranges of temperatures by cutaneous thermal stimuli. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) is a cation channel activated at a warm temperature (over 30 °C) in exogenously expressed cells. We found in the present study that TRPV4 is essential in thermal hyperalgesia at a warm temperature in vivo. TRPV4–/– and TRPV4+/+ mice exhibited the same latency of escape from 35–50 °C hotplates. Neuronal activity in the femoral nerve, however, revealed that the number and activity level of neurons decreased in response to a warm temperature in TRPV4–/– mice. TRPV4–/– mice displayed a significantly longer latency to escape from the plates at 35– 45 °C when hyperalgesia was induced by carrageenan without changes in foot volumes. TRPV4 therefore determines the sensitivity rather than the threshold of painful heat detection and plays an essential role in thermal hyperalgesia.