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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1552993
Exploring the role of neutrophils in inflammatory pain hypersensitivity via single-cell transcriptome profiling
Provisionally accepted- 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
- 2Yan'an Hospital Affiliated To Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
- 3Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
- 4The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
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The role of myeloid CD11b+ cells in postoperative and CFA-induced inflammation is well documented, yet their contribution to pain mechanisms, especially in relation to neutrophils, remains a subject of debate. To address this, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and observed a significant increase in the number of neutrophils and a decrease in the number of monocytes among CD11b+ cells following surgery and CFA treatment. Neutrophils are categorized into seven distinct subpopulations representing various stages of differentiation, with notable expression of CXCR2. We utilized nicotinamide n-oxide (NAMO), a CXCR2 inhibitor, to impede neutrophil maturation and consequently observed a reduction in postoperative and CFA-induced pain in a mouse model. Proteomic analysis indicated that NAMO effectively decreased the protein levels of S100b and CaMKIIβ in neutrophils. These findings suggest that the elevation in neutrophils following surgery and CFA treatment plays a significant role and that the inhibition of neutrophil maturation by NAMO contributes to pain alleviation.
Keywords: Inflammation, Pain, Neutrophil, CXCR2, NAMO
Received: 29 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ding, Liu, Zeng, Liu, Zhang, Li, Zhou, Su and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiao-San Su, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, 650500, Yunnan Province, China
Jun Wang, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650032, Yunnan Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.