Papers of the Week

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors containing the α9 subunit have been mechanistically implicated in alleviating chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain. However, the cell types that underlie these effects are currently unknown. RgIA-5474 is a recently developed, synthetic α-conotoxin analog that is a potent antagonist of human α9α10 nAChRs. We used germline α9 subunit knockout mice, CD3+ T-cell depletion, and conditional knockdown of the α9 subunit in immune cells to examine the role of α9-containing nAChRs that mediate RgIA-5474 alleviation of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic pain. RgIA-5474 potently and selectively blocked mouse α9α10 nAChRs. A one-time oxaliplatin injection resulted in cold allodynia that was reversed by RgIA-5474 administration in the wild type but not in α9 germline knockout mice. RgIA-5474 also failed to produce analgesia in CD3+ T-cell-depleted male and female animals. Conditional knockdown of the α9 subunit in immune cells of mice by the CreloxP system also eliminated the therapeutic effects of RgIA-5474 in both male and female mice. These results indicate that the α9 nAChR subunit is necessary for the analgesic effects of RgIA-5474 and implicate α9-containing nAChRs in immune cells as a nonopioid target for treating neuropathic pain.