Physiology Commons^™

Facilitation Of Neuropathic Pain By The Npy Y1 Receptor-Expressing Subpopulation Of Excitatory Interneurons In The Dorsal Horn, Tyler S. Nelson, Weisi Fu, Renee R. Donahue, Gregory F. Corder, Tomas Hökfelt, Ronald G. Wiley, Bradley K. Taylor

Physiology Faculty Publications

Endogenous neuropeptide Y (NPY) exerts long-lasting spinal inhibitory control of neuropathic pain, but its mechanism of action is complicated by the expression of its receptors at multiple sites in the dorsal horn: NPY Y1 receptors (Y1Rs) on post-synaptic neurons and both Y1Rs and Y2Rs at the central terminals of primary afferents. We found that Y1R-expressing spinal neurons contain multiple markers of excitatory but not inhibitory interneurons in the rat superficial dorsal horn. To test the relevance of this spinal population to the development and/or maintenance of acute and neuropathic pain, we selectively ablated Y1R-expressing interneurons with intrathecal administration of an …