No requirement of interlukine-1 for long-term potentiation in the anterior cingulate cortex of adult mice

BACKGROUND: The enhanced expression of cytokines in the pathological states suggests that they have important roles in the initiation or maintenance of disease states. Findings: To determine the involvement of cytokines in chronic neuropathic pain, the expression of cytokines in the anterior cingulate cortex neurons in the ligation of the common peroneal nerve mice was investigated. We utilized a cytokine enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay plate array to detect 23 cytokines in total eight mice including a female, and no significant differences were found in those cytokines between the common peroneal nerve model and sham surgery mice. Quantification of TNF-α at protein level revealed the unvaried expression in the anterior cingulate cortex in both neuropathic pain and visceral pain, but enhanced expression in the insular cortex in the visceral pain. Furthermore, we found that the IL-Ira, a kind of IL-1 receptor antagonist, had no effect on the theta burst stimulation-induced long-term potentiation in the anterior cingulate cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Cytokines are not involved in chronic neuropathic pain induced by nerve injury in the anterior cingulate cortex. Our findings suggested that cytokines may not be a viable drug target to treat chronic neuropathic pain in the anterior cingulate cortex.