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Papers of the Week


Papers: 1 Oct 2022 - 7 Oct 2022


Animal Studies, Pharmacology/Drug Development


2022 Oct 02


Brain Behav Immun

Editor's Pick

Opening K channels induces inflammatory tolerance and prevents chronic pain.

Authors

Qian C, Fan Y, Zong L, Miao C, Ji L-L, Wan L, Jia R, Qin X, Wang Y, Wu Q, Tao X-Y, Hao L, Hu L, Liu W-T
Brain Behav Immun. 2022 Oct 02.
PMID: 36198341.

Abstract

Current treatments for chronic pain are unsatisfactory, therefore, new therapeutics are urgently needed. Our previous study indicated that K channel openers have analgesic effects, but the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. We speculated that K channel openers might increase suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3 expression to induce inflammatory tolerance and attenuate chronic pain. Postoperative pain was induced by plantar incision to establish a chronic pain model. Growth arrest-specific 6 (Gas6) and Axl mice were used for signaling studies. The microglia cell line BV-2 was cultured for the in vitro experiments. The K channel opener significantly attenuated incision-induced mechanical allodynia in mice associated with the upregulated expression of SOCS3. Opening K channels induced the expression of SOCS3 in the Gas6/Axl signaling pathway in microglia, inhibited incision-induced mechanical allodynia by activating the Gas6/Axl-SOCS3 signaling pathway, and induced inflammatory tolerance to relieve neuroinflammation and postoperative pain. We demonstrated that opening of the K channel opening activated Gas6/Axl/SOCS3 signaling to induce inflammatory tolerance and relievef chronic pain. We explored a new target for anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects by regulating the innate immune system and provided a theoretical basis for clinical preemptive analgesia.