Event Abstract Back to Event Newborn neurons are present in the amygdala after prolonged neuropathic pain: Evidence for local neurogenesis Rosalia Coutada1*, Armando Almeida1 and Leonor Goncalves1 1 University of Minho, Life and Health Sciences Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, Portugal Neuropathic pain is strongly associated with the development of affective disorders like depression. The amygdala (AMY) has a significant role in the processing of emotions and is an important area in pain modulation and in emotional response to pain. Affective disorders (i.e. depression) resulting from chronic pain conditions are associated with structural plasticity in the AMY. We have previously described that after eight weeks of neuropathic pain induced by the spared nerve injury model (SNI) in rats, newborn neurons are present in the AMY, in association with a depressive-like behaviour. The aim of this study was to replicate the behaviour results and clarify what is the actual origin of these newborn neurons observed in the AMY. The SNI model was induced in a group of animals and prolonged during eight weeks. Behavioural tests were performed to assess mechanical allodynia (von Frey filaments), hyperalgesia (pin-prick test), depressive-like behaviour (forced swimming test) and anxiety-like behaviour (elevated plus-maze). Immunohistochemical analysis was performed in order to detect, in the rat brain, the location of different markers: doublecortin (DCX; protein expressed in migrating and differentiating neurons) + Ki-67 (nuclear protein expressed in proliferating cells in all phases of the active cell cycle); PSANCAM (specifically expressed in committed neuronal precursors present in regions that are undergoing some kind of structural plasticity) + GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein); and nestin (protein marker for immature neural cells) + GFAP. Depressive-like behaviour was confirmed, as well as the absence of anxious-like behaviour, after eight weeks of induced neuropathy. Additionally, we observed in basal and central AMY nuclei DCX+Ki-67-positive cells (co- localizing), PSA-NCAM-positive and GFAP-positive cells (not co-localizing), and nestin-positive and GFAP positive cells (not co-localizing). These data strongly indicate that the cell division inducing newborn neurons in the central nucleus of the AMY after eight weeks SNI neuropathy took place in the amygdalar region and did not result from a long distance migration from other regions of the brain. Conference: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, Braga, Portugal, 4 Jun - 6 Jun, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Abstracts Citation: Coutada R, Almeida A and Goncalves L (2009). Newborn neurons are present in the amygdala after prolonged neuropathic pain: Evidence for local neurogenesis. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.11.129 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 11 Aug 2009; Published Online: 11 Aug 2009. * Correspondence: Rosalia Coutada, University of Minho, Life and Health Sciences Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, Braga, Portugal, a48859@alunos.uminho.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Rosalia Coutada Armando Almeida Leonor Goncalves Google Rosalia Coutada Armando Almeida Leonor Goncalves Google Scholar Rosalia Coutada Armando Almeida Leonor Goncalves PubMed Rosalia Coutada Armando Almeida Leonor Goncalves Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.