Abstract
Diabetic neuropathic pain(DNP)is the most common disabling complication of diabetes.Emerging evi-dence has linked the pathogenesis of DNP to the aberrant sprouting of sensory axons into the epidermal area;however,the underlying molecular events remain poorly understood.Here we found that an axon guidance molecule,Netrin-3(Ntn-3),was expressed in the sensory neurons of mouse dorsal root ganglia(DRGs),and downregulation of Ntn-3 expression was highly correlated with the severity of DNP in a diabetic mouse model.Genetic ablation of Ntn-3 increased the intra-epidermal sprouting of sensory axons and worsened the DNP in diabetic mice.In contrast,the elevation of Ntn-3 levels in DRGs significantly inhibited the intra-epidermal axon sprouting and alleviated DNP in diabetic mice.In con-clusion,our studies identified Ntn-3 as an important regula-tor of DNP pathogenesis by gating the aberrant sprouting of sensory axons,indicating that Ntn-3 is a potential druggable target for DNP treatment.
基金项目
Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(LY19H090030)
Science and Technology Innovation 2030-Major Project of Brain science and Brainlike Research(2021ZD0202501)
Excellent Innovation Program of Hangzhou Municipal University in 2019()
National Natural Science Foundation of China(82150003)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(91949104)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(31871022)