Papers of the Week

Resolvin D1 (RvD1) suppresses inflammatory, postoperative, and neuropathic pain. The present study assessed the roles and mechanisms of RvD1 in mechanical allodynia after burn injury. A rat model of burn injury was established for analyses, and RvD1 was injected intraperitoneally. Pain behavior and the expression levels of spinal dorsal horn Iba-1 (microglia marker), GFAP (astrocyte marker), p-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) were detected by behavioral and immunocytochemical assays. The results showed that RvD1 attenuated mechanical allodynia after burn injury, prevented microglial and astroglial activation, and downregulated p-p38 MAPK (only in microglia) and BDNF/TrkB following burn injury. Similarly, inhibition of p38 MAPK and BDNF/TrkB signaling attenuated mechanical allodynia after burn injury. In addition, inhibition of p38 MAPK prevented spinal microglial activation and downregulated BDNF/TrkB following burn injury. Furthermore, inhibition of BDNF/TrkB signaling prevented spinal microglial activation and downregulated p-p38 MAPK within spinal microglia. Taken together, this study demonstrated that RvD1 might attenuate mechanical allodynia after burn injury by inhibiting spinal cord glial activation, microglial p38 MAPK, and BDNF/TrkB signaling in the spinal dorsal horn.