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Acute spinal cord stimulation alters cytokine gene expression in the meninges
Author(s) -
Tilley Dana,
Vallejo Ricardo,
Benyamin Ramsin,
Vogel Laura,
Kramer Jeffery
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.818.3
Subject(s) - meninges , spinal cord , stimulation , medicine , cytokine , spinal cord stimulation , neuropathic pain , anesthesia , neuroscience , pathology , biology , psychiatry
Spinal cord stimulators represent an advanced medical device based therapy that can effectively treat chronic neuropathic pain conditions. We hypothesized that spinal cord stimulation may impact the expression of cytokines in the meninges, thereby offering one potential mechanism by which these devices produce analgesia. Rats were anesthetized and multipolar, micro‐circumferential leads connected to a clinically utilized impulse generator were epidurally placed. Leads were placed between L2 and L5. Rats were stimulated for 2 hours at 50% motor threshold (20 Hz, .2 ms pulse duration). Following either stimulation or sham stimulation (leads placed in the epidural space for two hours without current application) animals were sacrificed and the meninges underlying the leads were harvested. Utilizing RT‐PCR, we found that after two hours, both TNF‐alpha and IL‐10 transcript levels were significantly elevated, while IL‐6 and IL‐1beta levels were unchanged. These preliminary results suggest that spinal cord stimulation can provoke changes in cytokine gene expression in the meninges. Further studies are warranted to see if the meninges are releasing these into the CSF to potentially modulate spinal function.