Transcriptomic Analysis of Trigeminal Ganglion and Spinal Trigeminal Nucleus Caudalis in Mice with Inflammatory Temporomandibular Joint Pain

Tieli Dong,1,* Haichao Si,1,2,* Zhisong Li,1 Qian Bai,1 Feng Tao3 1Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Nanyang Central Hospital, Nanyang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Dentistry, Dallas, TX, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Qian Bai; Feng Tao, Email baiqian@zzu.edu.cn; ftao81@tamu.eduBackground: Persistent facial pain heavily impacts the quality of life in patients with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. Previous studies have demonstrated that long non-coding ribonucleic acid (lncRNA) is an important regulator of pain. In this study, we aimed to analyze lncRNA expression in the whole transcriptome of trigeminal ganglia (TG) and spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis (Sp5C) in a chronic inflammatory TMJ pain mouse model.Methods: Chronic inflammatory TMJ pain was induced by intra-TMJ injection of complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). Mouse TG and Sp5C tissues were harvested on day 4 after CFA injection. The lncRNA expression patterns in the whole transcriptome of TG and Sp5C were profiled with RNA sequencing.Results: We observed that 38 lncRNAs and 849 mRNAs were differentially expressed after CFA treatment. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis further revealed relationships among those differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs and their potential functions. Specific categories of biological process, cellular processes, and molecular function of the differentially expressed transcripts were ascertained.Conclusion: Our results suggest that lncRNA expression in the whole transcriptome of trigeminal nociceptive system could contribute to the molecular mechanisms that underlie chronic inflammatory TMJ pain.Keywords: temporomandibular joint pain, lncRNAs, RNA sequencing, trigeminal ganglia, spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis