Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2019; 25(40): 6077-6093
Published online Oct 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i40.6077
Nucleus tractus solitarius mediates hyperalgesia induced by chronic pancreatitis in rats
Yang Bai, Ying-Biao Chen, Xin-Tong Qiu, Yan-Bing Chen, Li-Tian Ma, Ying-Qi Li, Hong-Ke Sun, Ming-Ming Zhang, Ting Zhang, Tao Chen, Bo-Yuan Fan, Hui Li, Yun-Qing Li
Yang Bai, Xin-Tong Qiu, Yan-Bing Chen, Li-Tian Ma, Ming-Ming Zhang, Ting Zhang, Tao Chen, Hui Li, Yun-Qing Li, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K. K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, Shaanxi Province, China
Ying-Biao Chen, Department of Anatomy, Fujian Health College, Fuzhou 350101, Fujian Province, China
Ying-Qi Li, Hong-Ke Sun, Bo-Yuan Fan, Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xian Jiaotong University, Xian Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Yun-Qing Li, Joint Laboratory of Neuroscience at Hainan Medical University and Fourth Military Medical University, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, Hainan Province, China
Author contributions: Bai Y and Chen YB established the CP model, performed behavior tests, and harvested tissue samples; Chen YB and Chen T performed electrophysiological tests; Ma LT, Li YQ, and Sun HK carried out immunoblotting tests; Bai Y, Zhang T, and Qiu XT performed immunostaining tests; Li YQ, Li H and Fan BY designed the study and edited the manuscript; Bai Y analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Bai Y and Chen YB contributed equally to this manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81620108008; Major Research and Development Project of Hainan Province, No. 2018153 to Yun-Qing Li; and Training Program for Scientific Research Scholars of Fujian Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, No. 2018-ZQN-74 to Ying-Biao Chen.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Fourth Military Medical University (IACUC protocol number: 20170702).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no competing financial interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yun-Qing Li, PhD, Professor, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K. K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Fourth Military Medical University, No. 169, West Changle Road, Xi'an 710032, Shaanxi Province, China. deptanat@fmmu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-29-84772706 Fax: +86-29-83283229
Received: July 17, 2019
Peer-review started: July 19, 2019
First decision: August 18, 2019
Revised: September 6, 2019
Accepted: September 11, 2019
Article in press: September 11, 2019
Published online: October 28, 2019
Processing time: 102 Days and 12.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: This study investigated the role of the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) in the pathogenesis of visceral hypersensitivity in a rat model of chronic pancreatitis (CP). We demonstrated that CP rats exhibited potentiated excitatory synaptic transmission within the caudal NTS. This potentiation may be mediated by enhanced glutamate release and the recruitment of membrane glutamate receptors. Inhibiting both the excitatory synaptic transmission and neural activity of caudal NTS neurons alleviated visceral hypersensitivity in CP rats. Our results suggest the caudal NTS as a primary central site that processes pancreatic pain, as well as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of chronic visceral pain in patients with CP.