Antinociception induced by electrical stimulation of the insular cortex of rats with peripheral neuropathy: screening on thermal sensitivity, general activity and anxiety

• Grant number: 15/23522-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2016
• End date: December 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Camila Squarzoni Dale
• Grantee: Heloísa Alonso Matielo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The injury to the peripheral nerve results in persistent or chronic neuropathic pain, characterized by the presence of allodynia and hyperalgesia. The treatment of the neuropathic pain is ineffective due to inadequate understanding of its cellular and molecular mechanisms involved, and the patients are refractory to currently available treatments. The electrical brain stimulation is an alternative since it induces suppression of endogenous mechanisms that causes pain and analgesia, becoming an alternative for patients who are refractory to conventional treatments. However, little is known about the mechanisms involved in this effect, hence the need for studies that deepen in this field. The insular cortex has connections to the analgesic downward path of pain and is where the sensation of pain is performed by its intensity, besides being closely related to the emotional aspect of pain which makes this area a potential target for the treatment of pain. Data obtained by our group showed that electrical stimulation of the insular cortex (EECI) induces antinociception in rats subjected to a neuropathic pain model, which is dependent effect of opioid and cannabinoid type I receptors. This project aims to investigate the effect of EECI on the hot thermal sensitivity on the general activity and level of anxiety. For this, rats, Sprague Dawley, will be submitted to the model of peripheral neuropathy by chronic constriction of the right sciatic nerve and will receive concentric electrodes in the left insular cortex to subsequent electrical stimulation (14 days after CCI, 15 minutes, 60 Hz, 210 uS, 1V) being evaluated by the hot plate test, open field and elevated plus maze. The results will Allow us to conclude about the participation of the insular cortex in the thermal nociceptive pathway and on the affective-motivational aspects of pain.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DIMOV, LUIZ FABIO; TONIOLO, ELAINE FLAMIA; ALONSO-MATIELO, HELOISA; DE ANDRADE, DANIEL CIAMPI; GARCIA-LARREA, LUIS; BALLESTER, GERSON; TEIXEIRA, MANOEL JACOBSEN; DALE, CAMILA SQUARZONI. Electrical stimulation of the insular cortex as a novel target for the relief of refractory pain: An experimental approach in rodents. Behavioural Brain Research, v. 346, p. 86-95, JUL 2 2018. (12/50176-5, 15/23522-8)

ALONSO-MATIELO, HELOISA; GONCALVES, ELIZAMARA S.; CAMPOS, MARIANA; OLIVEIRA, VICTORIA R. S.; TONIOLO, ELAINE F.; ALVES, ADILSON S.; LEBRUN, IVO; DE ANDRADE, DANIEL C.; TEIXEIRA, MANOEL J.; BRITTO, LUIZ R. G.; et al. Electrical stimulation of the posterior insula induces mechanical analgesia in a rodent model of neuropathic pain by modulating GABAergic signaling and activity in the pain circuitry. Brain Research, v. 1754, MAR 1 2021. (17/25399-4, 15/17136-8, 18/18483-1, 17/07411-7, 15/23522-8)