Gut microbiota is critical for the induction of chemotherapy-induced pain

Nature Neuroscience 20, 1213 (2017). doi:10.1038/nn.4606 Authors: Shiqian Shen, Grewo Lim, Zerong You, Weihua Ding, Peigen Huang, Chongzhao Ran, Jason Doheny, Peter Caravan, Samuel Tate, Kun Hu, Hyangin Kim, Michael McCabe, Bo Huang, Zhongcong Xie, Douglas Kwon, Lucy Chen & Jianren Mao Chemotherapy-induced pain is a dose-limiting condition that affects 30% of patients undergoing chemotherapy. We found that gut microbiota promotes the development of chemotherapy-induced mechanical hyperalgesia. Oxaliplatin-induced mechanical hyperalgesia was reduced in germ-free mice and in mice pretreated with antibiotics. Restoring the microbiota of germ-free mice abrogated this protection. These effects appear to be mediated, in part, by TLR4 expressed on hematopoietic cells, including macrophages.
Source: Nature Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Brief Communication Source Type: research