2025-10-27 カリフォルニア大学アーバイン校 (UCI)
<関連情報>
- https://medschool.uci.edu/news/uc-irvine-researchers-patent-formula-block-transition-acute-chronic-pain
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725010320
脊髄の代謝リプログラミングが疼痛の慢性化を促進する Metabolic reprogramming in the spinal cord drives the transition to pain chronicity
Alex Mabou Tagne, Yannick Fotio, Hye-Lim Lee, Kwang-Mook Jung, Jean Katz, Faizy Ahmed, Johnny Le, Richard Bazinet, Cholsoon Jang, Daniele Piomelli
Cell Reports Available online: 12 September 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116261
Graphical abstract

Highlights
- Bodily injury directs spinal metabolism to produce biomass in support of plasticity
- Critical nutrients in afferent spinal cord segments are depleted
- Dietary prevention of this depletion corrects metabolism and stops pain chronification
- Penury-responsive sensors, SIRT1 and AMPK, contribute to the diet’s protective effects
Summary
Acute injuries can progress into painful states that endure long after healing. The mechanisms underlying this transition remain unclear, but metabolic adaptations to the bioenergy demands imposed by injury are plausible contributors. Here we show that peripheral injury activates AKT/mTORC1 in afferent segments of the mouse spinal cord, redirecting local core metabolism toward biomass production while simultaneously suppressing autophagy-mediated biomass reclamation. This metabolic shift supports neuroplasticity but creates a resource bottleneck that depletes critical spinal cord nutrients. Preventing this depletion with a modified diet normalizes biomass generation and autophagy and halts the transition to chronic pain. This effect, observed across multiple pain models, requires activation of the nutrient sensors, sirtuin-1 and AMPK, as well as restoration of autophagy. The findings identify metabolic reprogramming and consequent autophagy suppression as key drivers of the progression to pain chronicity and highlight nutritional and pharmacological interventions that could prevent this progression after surgery or other physical traumas.


