Journal
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 15, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.811441
Keywords
Slack channel; SOM+ neurons; DRG neurons; mechanical pain; potassium channel
Categories
Funding
- Important Project of Natural Science in Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province [14KJA320002]
- Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [81471314, 81671090]
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [SBK201502515]
- Xuzhou Science and Technology Program [KC19036, KC16H0230]
- NSFC [31671212]
- Innovation Project of Jiangsu Graduate Education [KYCX20_2452]
- [BL2014029]
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The Slack channel plays an important role in regulating mechanical pain-sensing, with high expression in specific neurons in the dorsal root ganglion and spinal cord.
The role of the Slack (also known as Slo2.2, K(Na)1.1, or KCNT1) channel in pain-sensing is still in debate on which kind of pain it regulates. In the present study, we found that the Slack(-/-) mice exhibited decreased mechanical pain threshold but normal heat and cold pain sensitivity. Subsequently, X-gal staining, in situ hybridization, and immunofluorescence staining revealed high expression of the Slack channel in Isolectin B4 positive (IB4(+)) neurons in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and somatostatin-positive (SOM+) neurons in the spinal cord. Patch-clamp recordings indicated the firing frequency was increased in both small neurons in DRG and spinal SOM+ neurons in the Slack(-/-) mice whereas no obvious slow afterhyperpolarization was observed in both WT mice and Slack(-/-) mice. Furthermore, we found Kcnt1 gene expression in spinal SOM+ neurons in Slack(-/-) mice partially relieved the mechanical pain hypersensitivity of Slack(-/-) mice and decreased AP firing rates of the spinal SOM+ neurons. Finally, deletion of the Slack channel in spinal SOM+ neurons is sufficient to result in mechanical pain hypersensitivity in mice. In summary, our results suggest the important role of the Slack channel in the regulation of mechanical pain-sensing both in small neurons in DRG and SOM+ neurons in the spinal dorsal horn.
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