Background: Reports show that stressful events before injury exacerbates post-injury pain. The mechanism underlying stress-induced heightened thermal pain is unclear. Here, we examined the effects of chronic intermittent stress (CIS) on nociceptive behaviors and brain-derived nerve growth factor (BDNF) system in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hypothalamus of rats with and without thermal injury. Results: Unstressed rats showed transient mechanical allodynia during stress exposure. Stressed rats with thermal injury displayed persistent exacerbated mechanical allodynia (P < 0.001). Increased expression of BDNF mRNA in the PFC (P < 0.05), and elevated TrkB and p-TrkB (P < 0.05) protein levels in the hypothalamus were observed in stressed rats with thermal injury but not in stressed or thermally injured rats alone. Furthermore, administration of CTX-B significantly reduced stress-induced exacerbated mechanical allodynia in thermally injured rats (P < 0.001). Conclusion: These results indicate that BDNF-TrkB signaling in PFC and hypothalamus contributes to CIS-induced exacerbated mechanical allodynia in thermal injury state.
CITATION STYLE
Sosanya, N. M., Garza, T. H., Stacey, W., Crimmins, S. L., Christy, R. J., & Cheppudira, B. P. (2019). Involvement of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in chronic intermittent stress-induced enhanced mechanical allodynia in a rat model of burn pain. BMC Neuroscience, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12868-019-0500-1
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