Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Alleviate Facial Pain in Rats with Trigeminal Neuralgia by Inhibiting the Expression of P2X7 Receptor

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a common facial neuropathic pain that is mainly characterized by spontaneous or induced needling or electric shock pain in the innervation area of the trigeminal nerve. It is also referred to as “the cancer that never dies”. The olfactory ensheathing cell (OEC) is a special glial cell in the nervous system that has a strong supportive function in nerve regeneration. Cell transplantation therapy is a useful treatment modality that we believe can be applied in TN management. In this study, OECs were transplanted into the ligation site of the infraorbital nerve of rats. We found that after the OEC transplantation, mechanical pain threshold in the face of the rats was significantly increased. Western blotting, immunofluorescence assay, and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed on the trigeminal ganglia (TG) of model rats. The results revealed a decrease in the expression of P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) in the trigeminal ganglia. Our findings show that OEC transplantation has a good therapeutic effect on TN in rats, and that can reduce the expression of P2X7R in trigeminal ganglia. Therefore, we think that OEC transplantation may be a suitable treatment for TN.

An accurately supervised motion-aware deep network for non-contact pain assessment of trigeminal neuralgia mouse model

“…To achieve an objective pain grading in the TN mouse model, the MGS method previously used by others was avoided as it introduces the annotator's subjective factors. Instead, this study focuses on the activity of the IoN in the trigeminal nerve signaling circuit and the facial pain threshold as physiological indicators related to mice pain, which have objective bases for reflecting the pain intensity of mice [17].…”

Olfactory ensheathing cells and neuropathic pain

“…Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a common facial nerve pain. OECs was transplanted into the ligation of infraorbital nerve in rats, the facial mechanical pain threshold increased significantly, which was related to the decreased expression of P2X7 receptor in trigeminal ganglion ( Lu et al, 2022 ). In view of the fact that allogeneic cell transplantation will cause immune rejection, and OECs transplantation is likely to lead to the attack of inflammatory factors, resulting in a decrease in the survival rate of cells transplanted into the host, and the effect of pain relief is reduced.…”