Feng Tao
Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry, USA
Title: Effect of psychosocial stress on acute-to-chronic pain transition after surgery
Biography
Biography: Feng Tao
Abstract
Chronic postsurgical pain is a serious issue in clinical practice. After surgery, patients experience ongoing pain or become sensitive to incident, normally non-painful stimulation. The intensity and duration of postsurgical pain vary. However, it is unclear how chronic postsurgical pain develops. In this study, we showed that social defeat stress greatly prolonged plantar incision-induced pain and enhanced plantar incision-induced AMPA receptor GluA1 phosphorylation at the Ser831 site in the spinal cord. Interestingly, targeted mutation of the GluA1 phosphorylation site Ser831 significantly inhibited stress-induced prolongation of incisional pain. In addition, stress hormones enhanced GluA1 phosphorylation and AMPA receptor-mediated electrical activity in the spinal cord. Sub-threshold stimulation induced spinal long-term potentiation in GluA1 phosphomimetic mutant mice, but not in wild-type mice. Therefore, our results suggest that psychosocial stress could induce acute-to-chronic pain transition after surgery by enhancing AMPA receptor phosphorylation and spinal central sensitization.
