NOTCH SIGNALING CONTRIBUTES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNEE HYPERALGESIA IN MICE

Abstract

Purpose: Notch signaling plays a fundamental role in neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. Aberrant Notch signaling also contributes to cartilage and bone damage in osteoarthritis (OA) joints. Our previous data showed that Notch signaling is activated in knee-innervating dorsal root ganglia (DRG) after surgical destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) in mice, and in vitro studies using DRG cell culture suggested that Notch signaling may interact with toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling to promote synthesis of the pro-algesic chemokine, C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2).