IMR Press / JIN / Volume 23 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2301006
Open Access Original Research
Metformin Alleviates Pain States by Regulating the Balance of Spinal Synaptic Transmission
Dongxia Duan1,2,†Xiaojin Wu1,†Usman Ali3,†Di Wang1Xue Li4Ruimei Liu1Le Ma1,*Yemeng Mao1,*Yan Ma1,*
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1 Department of Pharmacy, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 201108 Shanghai, China
2 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, 201108 Shanghai, China
3 Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, 02118 MA, USA
4 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Changhai Hospital of Shanghai, 200433 Shanghai, China
*Correspondence: male412810253@sjtu.edu.cn; maleve522@163.com (Le Ma); mao_yemeng@163.com (Yemeng Mao); yanma417@sina.com (Yan Ma)
These authors contributed equally.
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2024, 23(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2301006
Submitted: 20 June 2023 | Revised: 26 August 2023 | Accepted: 15 September 2023 | Published: 11 January 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Migraine and Neuropathic Pain)
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Metformin has been shown to have potent analgesic effects; however, the underlying mechanism of synaptic plasticity mediating analgesia remained ambiguous. Methods: In this study, animal behavioral tests, whole-cell patch‑clamp recording, immunofluorescence staining, and network pharmacology techniques were applied to elucidate the mechanisms and potential targets of metformin-induced analgesia. Results: Single or consecutive injections of metformin significantly inhibited spinal nerve ligation (SNL)-induced neuropathic pain, and formalin-induced acute inflammatory pain. Network pharmacology analysis of metformin action targets in pain database-related targets revealed 25 targets, including five hub targets (nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOS1), NOS2, NOS3, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and plasminogen (PLG)). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis demonstrated that metformin-induced analgesia was markedly correlated with calcium signaling and synaptic transmission. Intrathecal injection of metformin significantly reversed nerve injury-induced c-Fos (neural activity biomarker) mRNA and protein expression in neuropathic rats by regulating NOS2 expression. In addition, whole-cell recordings of isolated spinal neurons demonstrated that metformin dose-dependently inhibited the enhanced frequency and amplitude of miniature excitatory synaptic currents (mEPSCs) but did not affect those of miniature inhibitory synaptic currents (mIPSCs) in neuropathic pain. Conclusions: This study further demonstrated that metformin might inhibit spinal glutamatergic transmission and abnormal nociceptive circuit transduction by monitoring synaptic transmission in pain. Results of this work provide an in-depth understanding of metformin analgesia via synaptic plasticity.

Keywords
pain
metformin
mEPSCs
c-Fos
glutamatergic transmission
Funding
2017-yjxk-06/Program of Characteristic Disciplines of Shanghai Mental Health Center
2021-YJ11/Shanghai Mental Health Center
2023-YJ02/Shanghai Mental Health Center
Figures
Fig. 1.
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