Hippocampal Inhibitory Synapsis Deficits Induced by α5-Containing GABA A Receptors Mediate Chronic Neuropathic Pain-Related Cognitive Impairment.

Chronic neuropathic pain often leads to cognitive impairment, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. Gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptors (GABA _A Rs) are the major inhibitory receptors in the brain, of which the α5-containing GABA _A Rs (GABA _A Rs-α5) are implicated in a range of neuropsychiatric disorders with cognitive deficits. However, whether GABA _A Rs-α5 are involved in chronic neuropathic pain-related cognitive impairment remains unknown. In this study, the rats with chronic neuropathic pain induced by right sciatic nerve ligation injury (SNI) exhibited cognitive impairment with declined spontaneous alternation in Y-maze test and discrimination index in novel object recognition test. The GABA _A Rs-α5 expressing on parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons increased remarkably in hippocampus, resulting in decreased mean frequency of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Significantly, antagonizing the GABA _A Rs-α5 by L655708 rescued weakened inhibitory synaptic transmission and cognitive impairment induced by chronic neuropathic pain. Taken together, these data suggest that the GABA _A Rs-α5 play a crucial role in chronic neuropathic pain-induced cognitive impairment by weakening inhibitory synaptic transmission, which may provide insights into the pharmacologic treatment of chronic neuropathic pain-related cognitive impairment.
(© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)