title: Dopamine D3 receptor knockout mice exhibit abnormal nociception in a sex-different manner.
abstract: Pain is a complex and subjective experience. Previous studies have shown that mice lacking the dopamine D3 receptor (D3RKO) exhibit hypoalgesia, indicating a role of the D3 receptor in modulation of nociception. Given that there are sex differences in pain perception, there may be differences in responses to nociceptive stimuli between male and female D3RKO mice. In the current study, we examined the role of the D3 receptor in modulating nociception in male and female D3RKO mice. Acute thermal pain was modeled by hot-plate test. This test was performed at different temperatures including 52°C, 55°C, and 58°C. The von Frey hair test was applied to evaluate mechanical pain. And persistent pain produced by peripheral tissue injury and inflammation was modeled by formalin test. In the hot-plate test, compared with wild-type (WT) mice, D3RKO mice generally exhibited longer latencies at each of the three temperatures. Specially, male D3RKO mice showed hypoalgesia compared with male WT mice when the temperature was 55°C, while for the female mice, there was a statistical difference between genotypes when the test condition was 52°C. In the von Frey hair test, both male and female D3RKO mice exhibited hypoalgesia. In the formalin test, the male D3RKO mice displayed a similar nociceptive behavior as their sex-matched WT littermates, whereas significantly depressed late-phase formalin-induced nociceptive behaviors were observed in the female mutants. These findings indicated that the D3 receptor affects nociceptive behaviors in a sex-specific manner and that its absence induces more analgesic behavior in the female knockout mice. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Xi'an Mental Health Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of the Health Ministry for Forensic Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases of the Education Ministry, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of the Health Ministry for Forensic Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases of the Education Ministry, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Teng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine & Forensics, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of the Health Ministry for Forensic Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases of the Education Ministry, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yong-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Dang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D057507:Mice, 129 Strain; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010146:Pain / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology*; D050637:Receptors, Dopamine D3 / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D050637:Receptors, Dopamine D3
keywords: dopamine D3 receptor; knockout mice; nociception; sexes