title: Orexin affects dorsal root ganglion neurons: a mechanism for regulating the spinal nociceptive processing.
abstract: Orexins (orexin A and B) are initially known to be a hypothalamic peptide critical for feeding and normal wakefulness. In addition, emerging evidence from behavioral tests suggests that orexins are also involved in the regulation of nociceptive processing, suggesting a novel potential therapeutic approach for pain treatment. Both spinal and supraspinal mechanisms appear to contribute to the role of orexin in nociception. In the spinal cord, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons are primary afferent neurons that transmit peripheral stimuli to the pain-processing areas. Morphological results show that both orexin A and orexin-1 receptor are distributed in DRG neurons. Moreover, by using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and calcium imaging measurements we found that orexin A induced excitability and intracellular calcium concentration elevation in the isolated rat DRG neurons, which was mainly dependent on the activation of spinal orexin-1 receptor. Based on these findings, we propose a hypothesis that the direct effect of orexin A on DRG neurons would represent a possible mechanism for the orexinergic modulation of spinal nociceptive transmission.
authors.affiliation: Urological Research Institute of PLA, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: J-A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: X-W
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Z-P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001583:Benzoxazoles / Q000494:pharmacology; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009287:Naphthyridines; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D064446:Orexin Receptors; D000068797:Orexins; D010146:Pain / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects; D014508:Urea / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: C420062:1-(2-methylbenzoxazol-6-yl)-3-(1,5)naphthyridin-4-yl urea; D001583:Benzoxazoles; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009287:Naphthyridines; D009479:Neuropeptides; D064446:Orexin Receptors; D000068797:Orexins; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide; D014508:Urea