Electroacupuncture alleviates mechanical allodynia in a rat model of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type-I via suppressing spinal CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling.

Electroacupuncture Alleviates Mechanical Allodynia in a Rat Model of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type-I via Suppressing Spinal CXCL12/CXCR4 Signaling.

Qing-Hua Hu, X-H Zheng, Xing-Fu Li, Chang Shik Yin, Yuhao Li, Rong Chen, Jingze Wang, Yu-Chih Liang, Xiao-mei Shao, Jing Fang, B Liu

J Pain

Jan 29, 2020

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Abstract

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) results in chronic and excruciating pain in patients. Conventional therapies lack effectiveness, rendering it one of the most difficult to treat neurological conditions.. Electroacupuncture (EA) is an effective alternative therapy for pain relief. Here, we investigated whether EA exerts analgesic effect on a rat model of CRPS type-I (CRPS-I) and related mechanisms. The rat chronic post-ischemic pain (CPIP) model was established to mimic CRPS-I. 100Hz EA exerted robust and persistent anti-allodynic effect on CPIP model compared with 2Hz EA or sham EA. EA markedly suppressed the overexpression of CXCL12/CXCR4 in spinal cord dorsal horn (SCDH) of CPIP model, leading to substantial decrease in neuronal and glial cell activities in SCDH. Pharmacological blocking CXCR4 mimicked EA-induced anti-allodynic effect and related cellular events in SCDH, whereas exogenous CXCL12 abolished EA's effect. CXCR4 signaling resulted in ERK activation in SCDH, contributing to mechanical allodynia of CPIP model rats, whereas EA markedly reduced ERK activation. Therefore, we demonstrated that EA interferes with CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling in SCDH and downstream ERK pathway to exert robust anti-allodynic effect on an animal model of CRPS-I. Our work suggests that EA may be a potential therapeutic option for CRPS-I in clinic. PERSPECTIVE: Our work identified that EA exerts robust anti-allodynic effect on an animal model of CRPS-I, via mechanisms involving inhibition of CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling. EA further attenuates downstream neuronal and glial cell activation and ERK pathway in SCDH. This work suggests that EA may be a potential therapeutic option for CRPS-I management in clinic.