The medial septum is anatomically and functionally linked to the hippocampus, a region implicated in nociception. However, the role of medial septum in nociception remains unclear. To investigate the role of the region in nociception in rats, muscimol, a GABA agonist, or zolpidem, a positive allosteric modulator of GABA(A) receptors, was microinjected into medial septum to attenuate the activity of neurons in the region. Electrophysiological studies in anesthetized rats indicated that muscimol evoked a stronger and longer-lasting suppression of medial septal-mediated activation of hippocampal theta field activity than zolpidem. Similarly, microinjection of muscimol (1 or 2 μg/0.5 μl) into the medial septum of awake rats suppressed both licking and flinching behaviors in the formalin test of inflammatory pain, whereas only the latter behavior was affected by zolpidem (8 or 12 μg/0.5 μl) administered into the medial septum. Interestingly, both drugs selectively attenuated nociceptive behaviors in the second phase of the formalin test that are partly driven by central plasticity. Indeed, muscimol reduced the second phase behaviors by 30% to 60%, which was comparable to the reduction seen with systemic administration of a moderate dose of the analgesic morphine. The reduction was accompanied by a decrease in formalin-induced expression of spinal c-Fos protein that serves as an index of spinal nociceptive processing. The drug effects on nociceptive behaviors were without overt sedation and were distinct from the effects observed after septal lateral microinjections. Taken together, these findings suggest that the activation of medial septum is pro-nociceptive and facilitates aspects of central neural processing underlying nociception.

The present study explored the role of the medial septal region (MS) in experimental neuropathic pain. For the first time, we found that the MS sustains nociceptive behaviors in rodent models of neuropathic pain, especially in the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model and the paclitaxel model of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain. For example, inactivation of the MS with intraseptal muscimol (2 μg/μl, 0.5 μl), a GABA mimetic, reversed peripheral hypersensitivity (PH) in the CCI model and induced place preference in a conditioned place preference task, a surrogate measure of spontaneous nociception. The effect of intraseptal muscimol on PH was comparable to that seen with microinjection of the local anesthetic, lidocaine, into rostral ventromedial medulla which is implicated in facilitating experimental chronic nociception. Cellular analysis in the CCI model showed that the MS region sustains nociceptive gain with CCI by facilitating basal nociceptive processing and the amplification of stimulus-evoked neural processing. Indeed, consistent with the idea that excitatory transmission through MS facilitates chronic experimental pain, intraseptal microinjection of antagonists acting at AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors attenuated CCI-induced PH. We propose that the MS is a central monitor of bodily nociception which sustains molecular plasticity triggered by persistent noxious insult.

The forebrain medial septum (MS), implicated in affective-motivational behaviours, is enriched in substance P (SP) sensitive neurokinin-1 receptors (NK1R) and somatostatin (SST) receptors (SSTR) that are located almost exclusively on cholinergic and GABAergic neurons, respectively. However, the physiological function of these receptors is poorly understood. This study characterized the actions of intraseptal SP on electrophysiological indices of septo-hippocampal activation, then utilised NK1 receptor antagonist, L-733,060, and SST to investigate the physiological role of endogenous neurotransmission at NK1R, and SST-sensitive mechanisms, in novel open field and formalin test of inflammatory pain. The findings showed that neurotransmission at NK1R mediates formalin-induced electrophysiological responses in the septo-hippocampus in anaesthetized and behaving animals. Furthermore, parallel NK1R- and SST-sensitive mechanisms affect different aspects of animal behaviours in both tests, collectively modulating attention and habituation in open field and driving formalin-induced nociception. This brings out a newer peptidergic dimension of septal physiology in nociception.