Extra-territorial pain in rats with a peripheral mononeuropathy: mechano-hyperalgesia and mechano-allodynia in the territory of an uninjured nerve

Abstract

The abnormal pain sensations that accompany peripheral neuropathies are sometimes found in a distribution that does not coincide with the territories of nerves or posterior roots. This 'extra-territorial' pain is one of the lines of evidence that has been advanced to support the proposal that these patients suffer from a psychogenic disorder. In the present experiments, rats were prepared with a unilateral chronic constriction injury (CCI) to the sciatic nerve. Beginning on the first postoperative day and continuing for at least 18 days, exaggerated withdrawal reflexes to pinprick stimulation, indicative of mechano-hyperalgesia, were seen on the side of nerve injury in the hindpaw territories of both the injured sciatic nerve and the uninjured saphenous nerve. Beginning on postoperative day 4 and continuing for at least the next 3 weeks, the withdrawal responses to von Frey hair stimulation on the nerve-injured side occurred at a significantly lower threshold, indicating the presence of mechano-allodynia. The severity and time course of the mechano-allodynia were similar in both nerve territories. When tested 18 days after the CCI, mechano-allodynia in the saphenous territory was abolished by an acute saphenous transection, but unaffected by sciatic transection. Conversely, mechano-allodynia evoked from the mid-plantar sciatic territory was abolished by acute sciatic transection, but unaffected by saphenous transection. These results show that rats with an experimental painful peripheral mononeuropathy have extra-territorial pain like that seen in man. Extra-territorial pain may be partly or entirely due to a peripheral nerve injury-evoked dysfunction of pain processing neurons in the central nervous system.

Spinal Glia and Proinflammatory Cytokines Mediate Mirror-Image Neuropathic Pain in Rats

“…As noted above, numerous clinical pain syndromes are associated with mirror-image pain, primarily allodynic in nature. Mirror-image thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia have also been observed in diverse animal models of pathological pain (Seltzer et al, 1990;Coderre and Melzack, 1991;Aloisi et al, 1993;Tal and Bennett, 1994;Rees et al, 1996;Takahashi et al, 1996;Sinnott et al, 1999;Hunt et al, 2001). Few studies have examined the mechanisms involved.…”

Altered Expression and Uptake Activity of Spinal Glutamate Transporters after Nerve Injury Contribute to the Pathogenesis of Neuropathic Pain in Rats

“…Brisk foot withdrawals (at least three times of five applications) in response to von Frey filament stimulation were considered positive. Depending on the initial response, subsequent filaments were applied in the order of either descending or ascending force to determine the threshold force (Tal and Bennett, 1994;Mao et al, 1997).…”

Exacerbated mechanical allodynia in rats with depression-like behavior

“…Each rat was placed on a metal mesh floor, covered with a plastic box (15×15×18 cm), and allowed to settle down for 30 min before the test. Von Frey filaments were used to determine the lowest mechanical threshold required for a brisk paw withdrawal according to the method (using an ascending and descending order of filaments) described by Tal and Bennett (1994) and in our previous report (Mao et al, 1997). A filament was applied perpendicularly to the rat's plantar area and a 10 second interval was used between two applications.…”