Defense Date

6-23-2010

Graduation Date

Summer 2010

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

thesis

Degree Name

MS

Department

Biological Sciences

Committee Chair

John Pollock

Committee Member

Brady Porter

Committee Member

David Somers

Committee Member

Michael Jensen-Seaman

Keywords

CCI, DRG, QPCR, Rat, Splice Variant, TRPV1

Abstract

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) is ligand-gated ion channel that plays an important role in the pain signaling pathway. It is predominantly expressed by sensory neurons located in trigeminal ganglia or dorsal root ganglia (DRG). TRPV1 has been shown to play a crucial role in the generation and maintenance of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. The involvement of splice variants of TRPV1 in pain pathways is not well known. In this study, the mRNA expression of TRPV1 and 3 splice variants (TRPV1.b, TRPV1.β, and TRPV1.var) in DRG was measured following chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve in rats. This is the first study to isolate TRPV1.β in rat DRG. The expression of TRPV1 mRNA was elevated following peripheral nerve damage, but not TRPV1.b, TRPV1.var or TRPV1.β. These novel findings suggest that the expression of TRPV1 splice variants is not regulated by sciatic nerve injury.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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