Open AccessSatellite glial cells in dorsal root ganglia are activated in streptozotocin‐treated rodents
Author(s) -
Hanani Menachem,
Blum Erez,
Liu Shuangmei,
Peng Lichao,
Liang Shangdong
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of cellular and molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.44
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1582-4934
pISSN - 1582-1838
DOI - 10.1111/jcmm.12406
Subject(s) - glial fibrillary acidic protein , streptozotocin , neuropathic pain , immunohistochemistry , dorsum , diabetes mellitus , medicine , downregulation and upregulation , pathology , endocrinology , neuroglia , neuroscience , central nervous system , biology , pharmacology , anatomy , biochemistry , gene
Neuropathic pain is a very common complication in diabetes mellitus ( DM ), and treatment for it is limited. As DM is becoming a global epidemic it is important to understand and treat this problem. The mechanisms of diabetic neuropathic pain are largely obscure. Recent studies have shown that glial cells are important for a variety of neuropathic pain types, and we investigated what are the changes that satellite glial cells ( SGC s) in dorsal root ganglia undergo in a DM type 1 model, induced by streptozotocin ( STZ ) in mice and rats. We carried out immunohistochemical studies to learn about changes in the activation marker glial fibrillary acidic protein ( GFAP ) in SGC s. We found that after STZ ‐treatment the number of neurons surrounded with GFAP ‐positive SGC s in dorsal root ganglia increased 4‐fold in mice and 5‐fold in rats. Western blotting for GFAP , which was done only on rats because of the larger size of the ganglia, showed an increase of about 2‐fold in STZ ‐treated rats, supporting the immunohistochemical results. These results indicate for the first time that SGC s are activated in rodent models of DM 1. As SGC activation appears to contribute to chronic pain, these results suggest that SGC s may participate in the generation and maintenance of diabetic neuropathic pain, and can serve as a potential therapeutic target.