• Lindsay B Conner, Pedro Alvarez, Oliver Bogen, and Jon D Levine.
• Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
• J Pain. 2016 Apr 1; 17 (4): 444-50.

UnlabelledWe hypothesized that changes in the expression of voltage-gated potassium channel (Kv) 4.3 contribute to the mechanical hyperalgesia induced by vibration injury, in a rodent model for hand-arm vibration syndrome in humans. Here we show that the exposure of the gastrocnemius muscle to vibration injury induces muscle hyperalgesia that is accompanied by a significant downregulation of Kv4.3 in affected sensory nerve fibers in dorsal root ganglia. We additionally show that the intrathecal administration of antisense oligonucleotides for Kv4.3 messenger RNA itself induces muscle hyperalgesia in the rat. Our results suggest that attenuation in the expression of Kv4.3 may contribute to neuropathic pain in people affected by hand-arm vibration syndrome.PerspectiveOur findings establish Kv4.3 as a potential molecular target for the treatment of hand-arm vibration syndrome.Copyright © 2016 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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