Spinal microglia and neuropathic pain in young rats

Neuropathic pain behaviour is not observed in neonatal rats and tactile allodynia does not develop in the spared nerve injury (SNI) model until rats are 4 weeks of age at the time of surgery. Since activated spinal microglia are known to play a key role in neuropathic pain, we have investigated whether the microglial response to nerve injury in young rats differs from that in adults. Here we show that dorsal horn microglial activation, visualised with IBA-1 immunostaining, is significantly less in postnatal day (P) 10 rat pups than in adults, 7 days after SNI. This was confirmed by qPCR analysis of IBA-1 mRNA and mRNA of other microglial markers, integrin-alpha M, MHC-II DMalpha and MHC-II DMbeta. Dorsal horn IBA-1+ve microglia could be activated, however, by intraspinal injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) at P10, although the increase in the levels of mRNA for all microglial markers was less than in the adult rat. In addition, P10 rats developed a small but significant mechanical allodynia in response to intrathecal LPS. Intrathecal injection of cultured ATP-activated microglia, known to cause mechanical allodynia in adult rats, had no behavioural effect at P10 and only began to cause allodynia if injections were performed at P16. The results clearly demonstrate immaturity of the microglial response triggered by nerve injury in the first postnatal weeks which may explain the absence of tactile allodynia following peripheral nerve injury in young rats.