Knowing that expression of metabotropic glutamate 2 (mGlu2) receptors in the dorsal root ganglia is regulated by acetylation mechanisms, we examined the effect of two selective and chemically unrelated histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, N- (2-aminophenyl)-4-[N-(pyridine-3-ylmethoxy-carbonyl)aminomethyl]benzamide (MS-275) and suberoylanilide hydroamic acid (SAHA), in a mouse model of persistent inflammatory pain. Although a single subcutaneous injection of MS-275 (3 mg/kg) or SAHA (5-50 mg/kg) was ineffective, a 5-day treatment with either of the two HDAC inhibitors substantially reduced the nociceptive response in the second phase of the formalin test, which reflects the development of central sensitization in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Analgesia was abrogated by a single injection of the mGlu2/3 receptor antagonist (␣S)-␣-amino-␣-[(1S,2S)-2-carboxycyclopropyl]-9H-xantine-9-propanoic acid (LY341495; 1 mg/kg, i.p.), which was inactive per se. Both MS-275 and SAHA upregulated the expression of mGlu2 receptors in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and spinal cord under conditions in which they caused analgesia, without changing the expression of mGlu1a, mGlu4, or mGlu5 receptors. Induction of DRG mGlu2 receptors in response to SAHA was associated with increased acetylation of p65/RelA on lysine 310, a process that enhances the transcriptional activity of p65/RelA at nuclear factor-B-regulated genes. Transcription of the mGlu2 receptor gene is known to be activated by p65/RelA in DRG neurons. We conclude that HDAC inhibition produces analgesia by up-regulating mGlu2 receptor expression in the DRG, an effect that results from the amplification of NF-B transcriptional activity. These data provide the first evidence that HDAC inhibitors cause analgesia and suggest that HDACs are potential targets for the epigenetic treatment of pain.Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are known to modulate gene expression by increasing acetylation of histone proteins, thus remodeling chromatin structure (Strahl and Allis, 2000). Eighteen HDAC isoenzymes have been identified and divided into four classes based on their homology to yeast deacetylase proteins. Class I HDACs include the HDAC1, -2, -3, and -8 isoforms. These enzymes are ubiquitously expressed and have a predominant nuclear localization. Class II HDACs, which include HDAC4, -5, -6, -7, -9, and -10, are cytosolic enzymes and have a more restricted tissue pattern of expression. Class III HDACs include sirtuins, whereas HDAC11 is the only member of class IV HDAC and shares properties of both class I and II HDACs (Xu et al., 2007;Yang and Seto, 2007).In addition to histones, a number of nonhistone proteins, mainly transcription factors, are regulated by acetylation and are specifically targeted by HDACs (Spange et al., 2009). In particular, members of the nuclear factor-B (NF-B) family of transcription factors are known to be regulated by reversible acetylation (Chen et al., 2001). The NF-B/Rel family consists of p50, p52, p65/RelA, c-Rel, and RelB, which Arti...
Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) couple to the inhibitory G-protein Gi. The group II mGluRs include two subtypes, mGlu2 and mGlu3, and their pharmacological activation produces analgesic effects in inflammatory and neuropathic pain states. However, the specific contribution of each one of the two subtypes has not been clarified due to the lack of selective orthosteric ligands that can discriminate between mGlu2 and mGlu3 subtypes.In this study we used mGlu2 or mGlu3 knock-out mice to dissect the specific role for these two receptors in the endogenous control of inflammatory pain and their specific contribution to the analgesic activity of mixed mGlu2/3 receptor agonists.Our results showed that mGlu2-/- mice display a significantly greater pain response compared to their wild type littermates. Interestingly the increased pain sensitivity in mGlu2-/- mice occurred only in the second phase of the formalin test. No differences were observed in the first phase. In contrast, mGlu3-/- mice did not significantly differ from their wild type littermates in either phase of the formalin test.When systemically injected, a single administration of the mGlu2/3 agonist, LY379268 (3 mg/kg, ip), showed a significant reduction of both phases in wild-type mice and in mGlu3-/- but not in mGlu2-/- mice. However tolerance to the analgesic effect of LY379268 (3 mg/kg, ip) in mGlu3-/- mice developed following 5 consecutive days of injection.Taken together, these results demonstrate that: (i) mGlu2 receptors play a predominant role over mGlu3 receptors in the control of inflammatory pain in mice; (ii) the analgesic activity of mixed mGlu2/3 agonists is entirely mediated by the activation of the mGlu2 subtype and (iii) the development of tolerance to the analgesic effect of mGlu2/3 agonists develops despite the lack of mGlu3 receptors.
Chronic 'pathological' pain is sustained by mechanisms of peripheral and central sensitization, which are being increasingly investigated at the molecular and cellular levels. The molecular determinants of nociceptive sensitization are natural targets for potential analgesic drugs used in the treatment of different forms of pain. Most of these determinants are common to all forms of chronic pain, and it is therefore not surprising that drugs specifically targeted for the treatment of neuropathic pain are effective in relieving nociceptive inflammatory pain and vice versa. The molecular mechanisms of sensitization that occur in peripheral nociceptors and the dorsal horns of the spinal cord are putative targets for context-dependent drugs, i.e. drugs that are able to discriminate between 'normal' and 'pathological' pain transmission. Among these, pregabalin and gabapentin bind to the alpha(2)delta subunit of voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channels, which sustain the enhanced release of pain transmitters at the synapses between primary afferent fibres and second-order sensory neurons under conditions of chronic pain. Pregabalin in particular represents a remarkable example of a context-dependent analgesic drug that acts at a critical step of nociceptive sensitization. Preclinical and clinical data suggest that pregabalin is more than a structural and functional analogue of gabapentin and may be effective in the treatment of nociceptive inflammatory pain that is resistant to gabapentin.
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