These results are in agreement with a previous study using a unilateral dopamine depletion animal (Chudler and Lu 2008) although the authors reported minor changes in the response to mechanical stimuli. This minor difference between both studies is probably due to the magnitude of the lesion (bilateral vs. unilateral), the nature of the anatomical area lesioned (medial forebrain bundle vs. striatum), and the type of stimuli (static vs. dynamic). Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical This study is also in agreement with previous reports showing that dopamine depletion causes hypersensitivity to mechanical stimulus (Saadé et al. 1997;

Takeda et al. 2005). The dopaminergic lesion of SNc enhanced the pain process (decreased threshold and/or latency) in experimental pain tests (Campbell et al. 1988; Morgan and Franklin 1990; Saadé et al. 1997; Altier and Stewart 1999; Takeda et al. 2005; Ansah et al. 2007; Chudler and Lu 2008; Koszewicz et al. 2012). research Moreover, pharmacological studies of D2R (agonist/antagonist) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in the striatum have reported that it suppresses or enhances the pain process in animal experiments Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (Magnusson and Fisher 2000; Ansah et al. 2007; Barceló et al. 2010). In addition, systemic use of D2R agonists has proven their antinociceptive action (Michael-Titus et al. 1990; Morgan and Franklin 1990; Clifford et al. 1998). This finding is also supported in this study. These

reports clearly demonstrated that D2R has a general antinociceptive effect (Hagelberg et al. 2004). The mechanism by which DA depletion produces neuropathic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical pain has yet to be determined. To our knowledge, there is no direct projection from SNc to the MDH, therefore we can only explain the nociceptive effect of DA depletion by indirect action on the intermediary descending Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical pain pathway, like that originating from the periaqueductal gray (PAG). The latter constitutes a central structure in the descending pain modulatory pathway

(Millan 2002). Previous studies have demonstrated different projections from SNc, SN reticula, VTA, and amygdala to the PAG. One main feature of these projections to the PAG is that they are GABAergic (Rizvi et al. 1991; Cassell et al. 1999; Gauriau and Bernard oxyclozanide 2002; Chieng and Christie 2010). DA depletion in these structures may decrease, in one way or another, GABA transmission at the PAG level, hence increasing descending facilitatory pain influences on the MDH. This is supported by the fact that in the 6-OHDA-lesioned animals, Fos expression increased in the PAG after mechanical stimulation or not of the hind paw (Reyes and Mitrofanis 2008). This reflected an increase in neural excitation within the PAG after dopamine depletion. The facilitatory effect of the pain descending pathway is reflected by the increase in PKCγ expression within the MDH in this study. PKCγ is known to participate in the chronicity of neuropathic pain (Malmberg et al. 1997; Martin et al. 1999; Ohsawa et al.