The AMPA receptor subunits GluR-A and GluR-B reciprocally modulate spinal synaptic plasticity and inflammatory pain

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	The AMPA receptor subunits GluR-A and GluR-B reciprocally modulate spinal synaptic plasticity and inflammatory pain
Creators Name:	Hartmann, B., Ahmadi, S., Heppenstall, P.A., Lewin, G.R., Schott, C., Borchardt, T., Seeburg, P.H., Zeilhofer, H.U., Sprengel, R. and Kuner, R.
Abstract:	Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors are densely expressed in the spinal dorsal horn, but their functional significance in pain processing is not understood. By disrupting the genes encoding GluR-A or GluR-B, we generated mice exhibiting increased or decreased numbers of Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors, respectively. Here, we demonstrate that AMPA receptors are critical determinants of nociceptive plasticity and inflammatory pain. A reduction in the number of Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors and density of AMPA channel currents in spinal neurons of GluR-A-deficient mice is accompanied by a loss of nociceptive plasticity in vitro and a reduction in acute inflammatory hyperalgesia in vivo. In contrast, an increase in spinal Ca2+- permeable AMPA receptors in GluR-B-deficient mice facilitated nociceptive plasticity and enhanced long-lasting inflammatory hyperalgesia. Thus, AMPA receptors are not mere determinants of fast synaptic transmission underlying basal pain sensitivity as previously thought, but are critically involved in activity-dependent changes in synaptic processing of nociceptive inputs.
Keywords:	AMPA Receptors, Brain, Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, Immunohistochemistry, Inflammation, Knockout Mice, Neural Pathways, Neuronal Plasticity, Nociceptors, Organ Culture Techniques, Pain, Spinal Cord, Animals, Mice
Source:	Neuron
ISSN:	0896-6273
Publisher:	Cell Press
Volume:	44
Number:	4
Page Range:	637-650
Date:	18 November 2004
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2004.10.029
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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