Stanford-HBMC Research Retreat

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Abstract C06

Darius McKoy, BS

Presenter

Name Darius McKoy, BS
Classification/School Student, Howard University College of Medicine

Statement

Our mission is to understand the mechanisms that contribute to the transition from acute to chronic pain by using a variety of approaches that span from behavioral to cellular.

Darius McKoy, BS
Student, Howard University College of Medicine

Abstract

Title Pharmacological Depletion of Microglia and the Effect on Neuropathic Pain
Authors Darius McKoy, Akila Ram, Amy Nippert, Dylan Mayanja, Vivianne Tawfik
Abstract Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans and costs the healthcare industry $635 billion dollars each year. As time goes on opioid deaths increase every year so our lab is trying to uncover the neural mechanisms of chronic pain to ultimately develop therapeutic techniques that do not rely on opioids. Past research shows that microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system, are initiators of post-injury response that contributes to the acute to chronic pain transition. In my study, I used PLX3397 drug, a receptor binder that inhibits the formation of microglia, to understand if there is a dose dependent response to microglial ablation in the spinal cord. I used immunohistochemistry to quantify the results. I then used spared nerve injury (SNI) followed by microglia ablation with PLX to understand if this process can alleviate neuropathic painlike behaviors. To understand the pain tolerance, we used the Von Frey method which tests the hypersensitivity of the mouse’s paw. I saw a 60% decrease in microglia in the 50mg/kg group, but there was no significant depletion at 10 and 25. After the SNI and PLX treatment, there was a drop in pain threshold for all the groups and they are very consistent among each other. This persisted for another 2 weeks. This data is not consistent with my hypothesis. I would have seen a lower drop-off in the pain threshold when compared to the control if my hypothesis was correct. Mechanical allodynia does not improve after giving PLX at 7 days post-injury. As for the future we are testing out other methods to interrupt the pain response.

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