title: Coexpression of heat-evoked and capsaicin-evoked inward currents in acutely dissociated rat dorsal root ganglion neurons.
abstract: Noxious heat is able to activate heat-sensitive nociceptors in the skin very rapidly, but little is known about the mechanisms by which heat is transduced. We used the whole-cell patch-clamp technique to study the effects of noxious heat and capsaicin on freshly dissociated rat dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro. Using temperatures between 41 degrees C and 53 degrees C, 8 of 19 small neurons (phi < or = 30 microm) exhibited a heat-evoked inward current. All heat-sensitive neurons tested were also capsaicin-sensitive. Moreover, the heat response tended to be enhanced after capsaicin (360 +/- 150 pA versus 125 +/- 45 pA, P < 0.1, n = 7). Two of five heat-insensitive neurons were excited by capsaicin; both neurons developed a heat response after capsaicin. Large neurons (phi > 30 microm) did not respond to heat (0/7), and were not sensitive to capsaicin either. These findings indicate that heat stimuli may directly activate capsaicin-sensitive primary nociceptive afferents.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kirschstein
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Büsselberg
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Treede
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002211:Capsaicin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048429:Cell Size / Q000502:physiology; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000166:cytology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000592:standards; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D002211:Capsaicin