RAGE-DEPENDENT SENSITIZATION OF THORACIC SENSORY NEURONS DURING INFLAMMATORY CONDITIONS

Abstract

Various airway inflammatory diseases progress as a result of chronic inflammation, specifically neurogenic inflammation. One factor known to be involved in this is RAGE. This work has established RAGE as a key mediator in LPS-induced sensitization of afferent thoracic dorsal root ganglia neurons of the upper airway in mice. This was demonstrated from electrophysiological data showing the failure of LPS to potentiate capsaicin-evoked TRPV1 currents and increase action potential generation in RAGE KO relative to wild-type thoracic neurons. Mass spectrometry analysis for protein identification represents a step forward in biochemistry, allowing to obtain a global picture of the proteins expressed in a cell, including isoforms, post-translational modifications and downstream signalling pathways.