RÉSUMÉ
This study was designed to investigate any correlation between the mechanism of pain development and changes of histochemically reactive zinc contents in the rat spinal ganglion following complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) injection, as an inflammatory pain model. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (270~290 g) were used for this study. Surgeries were done under anesthesia using pentobarbital (30 mg/kg). we injected 200 microliter of CFA subcutaneously in the dorsal aspect of one hind paw using a 30- gauge needle and an 1 mL syringe. Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments was used to test for mechanical hyperalgesia. Finally, zinc selenite autometallography (AMG) was done by Danscher's method. The rat suffered from severe painful swelling of the hindpaw 1 day after a CFA inoculation. Changes in pain threshold were significantly changed on 1 day, and lasted during experiment period of 3 weeks after the CFA inoculation. In control group, ganglion cells vary in size from 15 to 100 micrometer. The smaller neurons are strongly stained with AMG, whereas the larger cells are not almostly stained. Each large ganglion cell is surrounded by perineuronal satellite cells, showing apparent AMG stainity. In experiment group, AMG-positive small ganglion cells increased on 1 day after CFA inoculation, and showed a peak in cell number at 3days group, and decreased gradually after 7 days. We found a small number of large-sized ganglion cells with AMG stainity 7 days and 3 weeks after CFA inoculation. Our results indicate that zinc may be involved in pain mechanism in the spinal ganglion level.