Dougherty P M, Sluka K A, Sorkin L S, Westlund K N, Willis W D
Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77550-2772.
Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 1992 Jan-Apr;17(1):1-13. doi: 10.1016/0165-0173(92)90002-4.
Somatosensory neurons of the spinal cord, including projection neurons, become hyperexcitable to mechanical stimuli during the development of experimental arthritis in rats and cats and hence are suggested to participate in the generation of arthritic hyperalgesia in humans. The experiments described here show a potentiation of the responses of spinothalamic tract (STT) neurons in monkeys during the development of an acute arthritis. The results demonstrate that the responses of STT neurons to mechanical stimuli and to iontophoretically applied excitatory amino acids (EAAs), particularly those acting at non-N-methyl-D-aspartate (non-NMDA) receptors, become enhanced during the development of inflammation produced by intra-articular injection of kaolin and carrageenan. Since the enhancement of both responses follows a similar time course, the results of this work suggest a role for EAAs in the hyperalgesia associated with arthritis and hence may provide a possible pharmacologic target for alleviation and/or prevention of arthritic pain.
脊髓中的体感神经元，包括投射神经元，在大鼠和猫实验性关节炎的发展过程中对机械刺激变得过度兴奋，因此被认为参与了人类关节炎性痛觉过敏的产生。此处描述的实验表明，在急性关节炎发展过程中，猴子脊髓丘脑束（STT）神经元的反应增强。结果表明，在关节内注射高岭土和角叉菜胶引起的炎症发展过程中，STT神经元对机械刺激和离子导入施加的兴奋性氨基酸（EAA），特别是那些作用于非N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸（非NMDA）受体的EAA的反应增强。由于两种反应的增强遵循相似的时间进程，这项工作的结果表明EAA在与关节炎相关的痛觉过敏中起作用，因此可能为减轻和/或预防关节炎疼痛提供一个可能的药理学靶点。
