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Chen D, Shen L, Zhang YZ, Kan BF, Lou QQ, Long DD, Huang JY, Zhang Z, Hu SS, Wang D. Chronic nicotine exposure elicits pain hypersensitivity through activation of dopaminergic projections to anterior cingulate cortex. Br J Anaesth 2024; 132:735-745. [PMID: 38336518 DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2023.12.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Revised: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cigarette smoking is commonly reported among chronic pain patients in the clinic. Although chronic nicotine exposure is directly linked to nociceptive hypersensitivity in rodents, underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unknown. METHODS Multi-tetrode recordings in freely moving mice were used to test the activity of dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to pyramidal neurones in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in chronic nicotine-treated mice. The VTA→ACC dopaminergic pathway was inhibited by optogenetic manipulation to detect chronic nicotine-induced allodynia (pain attributable to a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain) assessed by von Frey monofilaments (force units in g). RESULTS Allodynia developed concurrently with chronic (28-day) nicotine exposure in mice (0.36 g [0.0141] vs 0.05 g [0.0018], P<0.0001). Chronic nicotine activated dopaminergic projections from the VTA to pyramidal neurones in the ACC, and optogenetic inhibition of VTA dopaminergic terminals in the ACC alleviated chronic nicotine-induced allodynia in mice (0.06 g [0.0064] vs 0.28 g [0.0428], P<0.0001). Moreover, optogenetic inhibition of Drd2 dopamine receptor signalling in the ACC attenuated nicotine-induced allodynia (0.07 g [0.0082] vs 0.27 g [0.0211], P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS These findings implicate a role of Drd2-mediated dopaminergic VTA→ACC pathway signalling in chronic nicotine-elicited allodynia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danyang Chen
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
| | - Liang Shen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuropsychiatric Diseases, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Yu-Zhuo Zhang
- Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Bu-Fan Kan
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
| | - Qian-Qian Lou
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
| | - Dan-Dan Long
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
| | - Ji-Ye Huang
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China
| | - Zhi Zhang
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China; The Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Biomedicine, Institute of Health and Medicine, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
| | - Shan-Shan Hu
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China.
| | - Di Wang
- Pain Clinic, First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China.
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