Abstract
Weather changes accompanied by decreases in barometric pressure are suggested to trigger meteoropathy, i.e., weather-related pain. We previously reported that neuropathic pain-related behavior in rats is aggravated by lowering barometric pressure, and that this effect is abolished by inner ear lesions. These results suggest that mechanisms that increase vestibular neuronal activity may parallel those that contribute to meteoropathy generation. However, it remains unknown whether changes in barometric pressure activate vestibular neuronal activity. To address this issue, we used expression of c-Fos protein as a marker for neural activation. Male and female mice were placed in a climatic chamber, and the barometric pressure was lowered by 40 hPa, from 1013 hPa, for 50 min (LP stimulation). The total number of c-Fos-positive cells in the vestibular nuclei was counted bilaterally after LP stimulation. We also video-recorded mouse behaviors and calculated the total activity score during the LP stimulation. LP stimulation resulted in significant c-Fos expression in the superior vestibular nucleus (SuVe) of male and female mice. There was no effect of LP stimulation on the total activity score. These data show that distinct neurons in the SuVe respond to LP stimulation. Similar mechanisms may contribute to the generation of meteoropathy in humans.
Highlights
It has long been assumed that weather changes can trigger episodes of meteoropathy, such as headache and other forms of chronic pain [1,2,3,4,5,6]
This number was significantly increased in the superior vestibular nucleus (SuVe) of mice of both sexes exposed to LP stimulation
The rationale of the present study was to examine if changes in barometric pressure within a range of natural weather changes may influence the activity of second-order neurons in the vestibular nuclei of mice, of neurons receiving vestibular afferent input
Summary
It has long been assumed that weather changes can trigger episodes of meteoropathy, such as headache and other forms of chronic pain [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Meteorological factors that influence pain include barometric pressure, humidity, wind, precipitation, and temperature [6,7,8,9]. We have previously demonstrated that lowering barometric pressure (5–27 hPa lower than atmospheric pressure; LP stimulation) using a climatic chamber leads to increased pain-related behaviors in rats with chronic constriction injury (CCI) [10] and monoarthritic rats [11]. We have reported that the LP-induced increase in pain-related behaviors vanishes after drug-induced destruction of the inner ear in CCI rats [12].
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