• Yee Man Lau, Shing Chau Wong, Sin Wah Tsang, Wai Kit Lau, Ai Ping Lu, and HongQi Zhang.
• School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.
• Neuropathol. Appl. Neurobiol. 2014 Jun 1; 40 (4): 452-63.

AimsRecent studies suggested that the development of neuropathic pain associated with neural injury may be partly due to up-regulation of cyclooxygenase (COX) in the central nervous system. However, the cellular sources of COX-1 and COX-2 up-regulation following nerve injury are unclear.MethodsWe investigated the spinal cellular sources of COX-1 and COX-2 in association with allodynia following L5 spinal nerve ligation (SNL).ResultsPost-SNL pain-related behaviour was shown by increased sensitivity to mechanical stimulation. There was a significant increase in both COX-1 and COX-2 immunoreactivity (P < 0.01) on the ipsilateral side of spinal dorsal horn. Double immunofluorescence labelling demonstrated that COX-1 immunoreactive cells colocalized chiefly with dorsal horn neuronal nuclei and microglia, whereas COX-2 was expressed in neuronal cytoplasm.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that while spinal dorsal horn neurones are important source of COX-1 and COX-2 after nerve injury, microglia also contribute to the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain, partly by producing additional COX-1.© 2013 British Neuropathological Society.

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