PARTIAL SPINAL NERVE LIGATION ALTERS ANATOMICAL COMPONENTS OF OXYTOCIN SIGNALING AND THE LEVEL OF TONIC OXYTOCIN-MEDIATED INHIBITION OF NOCICEPTION

Chronic pain affects more than 25 million people in the United States of America, with neuropathic pain contributing to pain in 6-8% of this population. Chronic pain occurs after surgical interventions in approximately 10-40% of patients, but most patients recover without developing persistent pain. Why some patients recover and others do not may be due to differences in activity of endogenous pain inhibition. Oxytocin is a peptide that has been characterized for its analgesic properties and recent studies suggest that oxytocin may contribute to endogenous inhibitory tone in chronic pain. We investigated mechanisms of oxytocin signaling that may be altered by partial spinal nerve ligation (pSNL) injury and contribute to the apparent recovery of pain after pSNL injury in rats.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Severino, Amie Leigh Milliken

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/64197

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/64197