Transcriptomic Analysis of Neuropathic Pain in the Mouse Spinal Cord Following Peripheral Nerve Injury

Abstract

Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) is a chronic disease;Patients with NP most commonly seek treatment for primary or secondary injury of the peripheral or central nervous system. The complex pathophysiology of NP is not yet fully elucidated, which contributes to underassessment and undertreatment. Methods: To analyse and study molecular relationships in the spinal cord in peripheral nerve induced neuropathic pain, we used SNI-induced neuropathic pain and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) sequencing to analyse differ entially expressed genes (DEGs). We established an SNI (shared nerve injury) model and used third-generation transcriptome sequencing technology to analyse messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) expression in mouse SDH (spinal dorsal horn) tissue and obtained 325 differentially expressed genes. The differentially expressed genes were further analysed by bioinformatics analysis. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed based on the STRING database, and Cytoscape software was used for visualization. We used the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway for DEGs to perform a Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. Real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) was performed to verify the results. Results: Atf3, Sprr1a, Anxa10, Ccl7, Ccl2, Lck, and Timp1 as well as the NF-κB TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) and MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signalling pathways, were implicated in SNI-induced neuropathicpain. Conclusions: These findings further deepen the understanding of NP mechanisms and therapeutic targets.