Different immune cells mediate mechanical pain hypersensitivity in male and female mice.
Robert E SorgeJosiane C S MapplebeckSarah RosenSimon BeggsSarah TavesJessica K AlexanderLoren J MartinJean-Sebastien AustinSusana G SotocinalDi ChenMu YangXiang Qun ShiHao HuangNicolas J PillonPhilip J BilanYuShan TuAmira KlipRu-Rong JiJi ZhangMichael W SalterJeffrey S MogilPublished in: Nature neuroscience (2015)
A large and rapidly increasing body of evidence indicates that microglia-to-neuron signaling is essential for chronic pain hypersensitivity. Using multiple approaches, we found that microglia are not required for mechanical pain hypersensitivity in female mice; female mice achieved similar levels of pain hypersensitivity using adaptive immune cells, likely T lymphocytes. This sexual dimorphism suggests that male mice cannot be used as proxies for females in pain research.