TY  - JOUR
A1  - King-Himmelreich, Tanya
A1  - Möser, Christine Verena
A1  - Wolters, Miriam C.
A1  - Olbrich, Katrin
A1  - Geisslinger, Gerd
A1  - Niederberger, Ellen
T1  - Age-dependent changes in the inflammatory nociceptive behavior of mice
T2  - International journal of molecular sciences
N2  - The processing of pain undergoes several changes in aging that affect sensory nociceptive fibers and the endogenous neuronal inhibitory systems. So far, it is not completely clear whether age-induced modifications are associated with an increase or decrease in pain perception. In this study, we assessed the impact of age on inflammatory nociception in mice and the role of the hormonal inhibitory systems in this context. We investigated the nociceptive behavior of 12-month-old versus 6–8-week-old mice in two behavioral models of inflammatory nociception. Levels of TRP channels, and cortisol as well as cortisol targets, were measured by qPCR, ELISA, and Western blot in the differently aged mice. We observed an age-related reduction in nociceptive behavior during inflammation as well as a higher level of cortisol in the spinal cord of aged mice compared to young mice, while TRP channels were not reduced. Among potential cortisol targets, the NF-κB inhibitor protein alpha (IκBα) was increased, which might contribute to inhibition of NF-κB and a decreased expression and activity of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). In conclusion, our results reveal a reduced nociceptive response in aged mice, which might be at least partially mediated by an augmented inflammation-induced increase in the hormonal inhibitory system involving cortisol.
KW  - nociception
KW  - inflammation
KW  - age
KW  - cortisol
Y1  - 2015
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/38689
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-386898
SN  - 1422-0067
N1  - © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
VL  - 16
IS  - 11
SP  - 27508
EP  - 27519
PB  - Molecular Diversity Preservation International
CY  - Basel
ER  -