| First Author | Cui L | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Neuron | Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 1137-1153 |
| PubMed ID | 27545714 | Mgi Jnum | J:237553 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5816105 | Doi | 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.07.038 |
| Citation | Cui L, et al. (2016) Identification of Early RET+ Deep Dorsal Spinal Cord Interneurons in Gating Pain. Neuron 91(5):1137-53 |
| abstractText | The gate control theory (GCT) of pain proposes that pain- and touch-sensing neurons antagonize each other through spinal cord dorsal horn (DH) gating neurons. However, the exact neural circuits underlying the GCT remain largely elusive. Here, we identified a new population of deep layer DH (dDH) inhibitory interneurons that express the receptor tyrosine kinase Ret neonatally. These early RET+ dDH neurons receive excitatory as well as polysynaptic inhibitory inputs from touch- and/or pain-sensing afferents. In addition, they negatively regulate DH pain and touch pathways through both pre- and postsynaptic inhibition. Finally, specific ablation of early RET+ dDH neurons increases basal and chronic pain, whereas their acute activation reduces basal pain perception and relieves inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Taken together, our findings uncover a novel spinal circuit that mediates crosstalk between touch and pain pathways and suggest that some early RET+ dDH neurons could function as pain "gating" neurons. |
