J Anesth Perioper Med. 2017;4(5):220-224. https://doi.org/10.24015/ebcmed.japm.2017.0020

Altered Expression Profiling of Spinal Genes Modulated by Compound 48/80 in A Mouse Itch Model

Zhi-Gang He, Bao-Wen Liu, Zhi-Xiao Li, Cheng Liu, and Hong-Bing Xiang

From Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Correspondence to Dr. Hong-Bing Xiang at xhbtj2004@163.com.

EBCMED ID: ebcmed.japm.2017.0020 DOI: 10.24015/ebcmed.japm.2017.0020


Abstract

Background
The molecular mechanisms underlying itch are constantly being studied to create new opportunities to prevent or alleviate itch. The aim of our study was to determine the spinal gene expression changes induced by compound 48/80 in a mouse itch model.

Methods
Mice were divided into saline group (control group, n=12) and compound 48/80 group (48/80 group, n=12). 100 μl saline or compound 48/80 was microinjected intradermally in the nape of the neck. After injection, pruritic behavior was immediately measured every 5 minutes. 30 minutes after injection, tissue was prepared to carry out mRNA profiling microarray and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analyses.

Results
The total numbers of scratching bout after compound 48/80 injection (100 μg/100 μl) were significantly increased in 48/80 group (190 ± 11.33) as compared with control group (6.83 ± 1.17). We screened the dorsal part of the cervical spinal cord of the mouse itch model for differentially expressed genes. Out of 45037 studied transcripts, the abundance levels of 15 transcripts were altered following compound 48/80 injection. 9 and 6 genes were up- and down-regulated in 48/80 group, respectively. We validated the reliability of the microarray results by RT-qPCR, and found 6 up-regulated mRNA, including Sgk1, Bag4, Fos, Ehd2, Edn3 and Wdfy, were significantly increased, whereas 3 down-regulated mRNA, including Corin, 4921511E18Rik and 4930423020Rik, were significantly decreased.

Conclusions
These findings indicate that the alterations of spinal gene expression are involved in acute itch, and provide a translational bridge for spinal drugs targeting their signaling pathway to prevent or alleviate itch.

Article Type
Original Article

Declaration of Interests
All authors had no other potential conflicts of interest for this work.

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of P.R. China (No. 81271766 to H.X), National Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2013CFB121 to H.X.), and Special Fund of Fundamental Scientific Research Business Expense for Higher School of Central Government (2012 TS060 to H.X).

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