| First Author | Bohic M | Year | 2020 |
| Journal | Cell Rep | Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 602-610.e6 |
| PubMed ID | 31968239 | Mgi Jnum | J:287575 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6415872 | Doi | 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.12.041 |
| Citation | Bohic M, et al. (2020) Loss of bhlha9 Impairs Thermotaxis and Formalin-Evoked Pain in a Sexually Dimorphic Manner. Cell Rep 30(3):602-610.e6 |
| abstractText | C-LTMRs are known to convey affective aspects of touch and to modulate injury-induced pain in humans and mice. However, a role for these neurons in temperature sensation has been suggested, but not fully demonstrated. Here, we report that deletion of C-low-threshold mechanoreceptor (C-LTMR)-expressed bhlha9 causes impaired thermotaxis behavior and exacerbated formalin-evoked pain in male, but not female, mice. Positive modulators of GABAA receptors failed to relieve inflammatory formalin pain and failed to decrease the frequency of spontaneous excitatory post-synaptic currents (sEPSCs) selectively in bhlha9 knockout (KO) males. This could be explained by a drastic change in the GABA content of lamina II inner inhibitory interneurons contacting C-LTMR central terminals. Finally, C-LTMR-specific deep RNA sequencing revealed more genes differentially expressed in male than in female bhlha9 KO C-LTMRs. Our data consolidate the role of C-LTMRs in modulation of formalin pain and provide in vivo evidence of their role in the discriminative aspects of temperature sensation. |
