Serena Boccella, Michela Perrone, Antimo Fusco, Roozbe Bonsale, Rosmara Infantino, Silvia Nuzzo, Giovanni Pecoraro, Federica Ricciardi, Andrea Maria Morace, Gianluca Petrillo, Ilaria Leone, Monica Franzese, Vito de Novellis, Francesca Guida, Marco Salvatore, Sabatino Maione, Livio Luongo
Vestibulodynia is a complex pain disorder characterized by chronic discomfort in the vulvar region, often accompanied by tactile allodynia and spontaneous pain. In patients a depressive behaviour is also observed. In this study, we have used a model of vestibulodynia induced by complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) focusing our investigation on the spinal cord neurons and microglia. We investigated tactile allodynia, spontaneous pain, and depressive-like behavior as key behavioral markers of vestibulodynia. In addition, we conducted in vivo electrophysiological recordings to provide, for the first time to our knowledge, the characterization of the spinal sacral neuronal activity in the L6-S1 dorsal horn of the spinal cord...
April 16, 2024: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity