Abstract: Objective： To unravel the underlying mechanism of minocycline in formalin-induced inflammatory pain, and to investigate the effects of minocycline on synaptic transmission in substantia gela-tinosa (SG) neurons of rat spinal dorsal horn. Methods: Behavioral and immunohistochemistry experiments: 30 male SpragueDawley (SD) rats (3-5 weeks old) were randomly assigned to control (n=8 rats), model (n=8 rats), saline treatment model (n=6 rats) and minocycline treatment model (n=8 rats) groups. The control group was subcutaneously injected with normal saline on the right hindpaws. Acute inflammatory pain model was established by injecting 5% (volume fraction) formalin into the right hindpaws. The rats in the latter two groups received intraperitoneal injection of saline and minocycline 1 h before the formalin injection, respectively. The time of licking and lifting was recorded every 5 min within 1 h after the subcutaneous injection of normal saline or formalin for all the groups, which was continuously recorded for 1 h. One hour after the pain behavioral recording, the spinal cord tissue was removed following transcardial perfusion of 4% paraformaldehyde. The expression of c-Fos protein in spinal dorsal horn was observed by immunohistochemistry. Electrophysiological experiment: In vitro whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were performed in spinal cord parasagittal slices obtained from 26 male SD rats (3-5 weeks old). Two to five neurons were randomly selected from each rat for patch-clamp recording. the effects of minocycline, fluorocitrate and doxycycline on spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs) or spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) of SG neurons were investigated. Results: Compared with the control group, both the licking and lifting time and the expression of c-Fos protein in ipsilateral spinal dorsal horn of the model group were significantly increased. Intraperitoneal injection of minocycline largely attenuated the second phase of formalin-induced pain responses (t=2.957, P<0.05). Moreover, c-Fos protein expression was also dramatically reduced in both the superficial la-mina (Ⅰ-Ⅱ) and deep lamina (Ⅲ-Ⅳ) of spinal dorsal horn (tⅠ-Ⅱ = 3.912, tⅢ-Ⅳ = 2.630, P<0.05). On the other side, bath application of minocycline significantly increased the sIPSCs frequency to 220%±10% (P<0.05) of the control but did not affect the frequency (100%±1%, t = 0.112, P=0.951) and amplitude (98%±1%, t=0.273, P=0.167) of sEPSCs and the amplitude (105%±3%, t = 0.568, P = 0.058) of sIPSCs. However, fluorocitrate and doxycycline had no effect on the frequency ［ (99% ± 1%, t = 0.366, P = 0.099); (102% ± 1%, t = 0.184, P = 0.146), respectively］ and amplitude ［ (98% ± 1%, t = 0.208, P = 0.253); (99% ± 1%, t = 0.129, P=0.552), respectively］ of sIPSCs. Conclusion: Minocycline can inhibit formalin-induced inflammatory pain and the expression of c-Fos protein in spinal dorsal horn. These effects are probably due to its enhancement in inhibitory synaptic transmission of SG neurons but not its effect on microglial activation or antibiotic action.

Key words: Minocycline, Inflammatory pain, Postsynaptic currents, Whole-cell patch clamp