Papers of the Week

Chronic neuropathic pain often leads to cognitive impairment, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. Gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptors (GABARs) are the major inhibitory receptors in the brain, of which the α5-containing GABARs (GABARs-α5) are implicated in a range of neuropsychiatric disorders with cognitive deficits. However, whether GABARs-α5 are involved in chronic neuropathic pain-related cognitive impairment remains unknown. In this study, the rats with chronic neuropathic pain induced by right sciatic nerve ligation injury (SNI) exhibited cognitive impairment with declined spontaneous alternation in Y-maze test and discrimination index in novel object recognition test. The GABARs-α5 expressing on parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons increased remarkably in hippocampus, resulting in decreased mean frequency of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Significantly, antagonizing the GABARs-α5 by L655708 rescued weakened inhibitory synaptic transmission and cognitive impairment induced by chronic neuropathic pain. Taken together, these data suggest that the GABARs-α5 play a crucial role in chronic neuropathic pain-induced cognitive impairment by weakening inhibitory synaptic transmission, which may provide insights into the pharmacologic treatment of chronic neuropathic pain-related cognitive impairment.