Impact of chronic nicotine on sciatic nerve injury in the rat.
Chronic nicotine exposure and the immune response to peripheral nerve injury has not been investigated thoroughly. Rats were exposed to chronic nicotine or saline followed by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Mechanical sensitivity was measured at various time points and the immune response was investigated at 21 days post-CCI. Chronic nicotine increased mechanical hypersensitivity, microglia activation, and the production of IL-1beta, but not the number of immune cells at the site of injury. These results suggest that chronic nicotine increases mechanical hypersensitivity following peripheral nerve injury through a mechanism that may involve an increased production and release of central and peripheral cytokines.
Brett
Kyle
K
Department of Anesthesiology, and Center for the Study of Pharmacological Plasticity in the Presence of Pain, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
Parker
Renée
R
Wittenauer
Shannon
S
Hayashida
Ken-Ichiro
K
Young
Tracey
T
Vincler
Michelle
M
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003250:Constriction; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D017628:Microglia / Q000187:drug effects; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020426:Sciatic Neuropathy / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
D016207:Cytokines; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine