| Abstract: | Peripheral nerve injury often causes neuropathic pain and is associated with changes in the expression of numerous
proteins in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. To date, proteomic analysis method has been used to simultaneously
analyze hundreds or thousands of proteins differentially expressed in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord in rats or
dorsal root ganglion of rats with certain type of peripheral nerve injury. However, a proteomic study using a mouse
model of neuropathic pain could be attempted because of abundant protein database and the availability of transgenic
mice. In this study, whole proteins were extracted from the ipsilateral dorsal half of the 4th–6th lumbar spinal cord in a
mouse model of spared nerve injury (SNI)-induced neuropathic pain. In-gel digests of the proteins size-separated on a
polyacrylamide gel were subjected to reverse-phase liquid-chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization ion
trap tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). After identifying proteins, the data were analyzed with subtractive
proteomics using ProtAn, an in-house analytic program. Consequently, 15 downregulated and 35 upregulated
proteins were identified in SNI mice. The identified proteins may contribute to the maintenance of neuropathic pain,
and may provide new or valuable information in the discovery of new therapeutic targets for neuropathic pain. |
