ISSN:
1460-9568
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
This study was designed to provide evidence for elucidating the mechanisms of neurokinin-3 receptor (NK3) in spinal pain modulation. First, colocalization of NK3 with the µ-opioid receptor (MOR1) was studied in the spinal dorsal horn of the rat. Confocal microscopy showed that about 44% of NK3-expressing neurons in laminae I and II were immunoreactive for MOR1, which corresponded to about 93% of the total population of MOR1-containing neurons in these laminae. Second, the relationship between NK3/MOR1-coexpressing neurons and those that express nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was examined by using a triple immunofluorescent staining method. About 37% of NK3-immunoreactive neurons were also NOS-immunoreactive, which constituted about 82% of NOS-immunoreacitve neurons in the superficial laminae. However, no triple-labelled neurons were detected. The present results indicate that there are two major distinct subpopulations of NK3-expressing neurons in the superficial dorsal horn, which suggests that the involvement of NK3 receptor in spinal nociception could be mediated by two distinct mechanisms, i.e. opioid and nitric oxide.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9568.2002.02135.x
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