| First Author | Vogel C | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | J Neurosci | Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 708-15 |
| PubMed ID | 12533631 | Mgi Jnum | J:81734 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2449886 | Doi | 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-02-00708.2003 |
| Citation | Vogel C, et al. (2003) Absence of thermal hyperalgesia in serotonin transporter-deficient mice. J Neurosci 23(2):708-15 |
| abstractText | Antidepressants in the treatment of neuropathic pain are thought to partially exert their effect by inhibition of serotonin (5-HT) reuptake and thus activation of central antinociceptive pathways. Mice deficient for the 5-HT transporter (5-HTT-/- mice) are regarded as a model of lifelong treatment with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Here we investigated 5-HTT-/- mice and compared their pain-related behavior after a unilateral chronic constrictive sciatic nerve injury (CCI) with that of wild-type littermates. Wild-type mice reproducibly developed ipsilateral thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia after CCI. 5-HTT-/- mice did not develop thermal hyperalgesia, but showed bilateral mechanical allodynia after the nerve injury. 5-HT levels as measured with HPLC increased after CCI in the injured nerve in both genotypes and decreased in the lumbar spinal cord in wild-type mice. 5-HTT-/- mice had significantly lower 5-HT concentrations than wild-type mice in all tissues investigated. Thus, in 5-HTT-/- mice, reduced 5-HT levels in the injured peripheral nerves correlate with diminished behavioral signs of thermal hyperalgesia, a pain-related symptom caused by peripheral sensitization. In contrast, bilateral mechanical allodynia, a centrally mediated phenomenon, was associated with decreased spinal 5-HT concentrations in 5-HTT-/- mice and may possibly be caused by a lack of spinal inhibition. |
