Estrogen receptor-α expression in nociceptive-responsive neurons in the medullary dorsal horn of the female rat

On the day of the defence date the status of this article was Submitted.
Estrogens exert a substantial influence on the transmission of nociceptive stimuli and the susceptibility to pain disorders as made evident by studies in both animals and human subjects. The estrogen receptor (ER) seems to be of crucial importance to the cellular mechanisms underlying such an influence. However, it has not been clarified whether nociceptive neurons activated by pain express ERs. In this study, a noxious injection of formalin was given into the lower lip of female rats, thereby activating nociceptive neurons in the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis as demonstrated by immunohistochemical labeling of Fos. Using a dual-label immunohistochemistry protocol ERalpha-containing cells were visualized in the same sections. In the superficial layers of the medullary dorsal horn, 12% of ERalpha-labeled cells, mainly located in lamina II, also expressed noxious-induced Fos. These findings show that nociceptive-responsive neurons in the medullary dorsal horn express ERalpha, thus providing a possible morphological basis for the hypothesis that estrogens directly regulate pain transmission at this level.

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper Fysiologi hsv//swe
MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES Basic Medicine Physiology hsv//eng
Estrogen receptor
Spinal trigeminal nucleus
Gonadal hormone
Pain
Fos
Clinical neurophysiology
Klinisk neurofysiologi
Clinical Neurophysiology
Klinisk neurofysiologi
MEDICINE

Blomqvist, AndersLinköpings universitet,Cellbiologi,Hälsouniversitetet(Swepub:liu)andbl47 (author)
Linköpings universitetCellbiologi (creator_code:org_t)

About the subject

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES: MEDICAL AND HEAL ...; and Basic Medicine; and Physiology

Kungliga biblioteket hanterar dina personuppgifter i enlighet med EU:s dataskyddsförordning (2018), GDPR. Läs mer om hur det funkar här.
Så här hanterar KB dina uppgifter vid användning av denna tjänst.