ArticleSpine2017
Painful Cervical Facet Joint Injury Is Accompanied by Changes in the Number of Excitatory and Inhibitory Synapses in the Superficial Dorsal Horn That Differentially Relate to Local Tissue Injury Severity.
Article in Spine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Subfailure capsule strain as the cause of cervical zygapophysial joint pain after whiplash: a scoping review.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Cervical facet joint interventions for neck pain: an anatomically and clinically focused review.Anesthesia and pain medicine · 2025Review
- Annulus Fibrosus Injury Induces Acute Neuroinflammation and Chronic Glial Response in Dorsal Root Ganglion and Spinal Cord-An In Vivo Rat Discogenic Pain Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Increased substance P and synaptic remodeling occur in the trigeminal sensory system with sustained osteoarthritic temporomandibular joint sensitivity.Pain reports · 2021Article
- Medial Branch Blocks for Diagnosis of Facet Joint Pain Etiology and Use in Chronic Pain Litigation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
- Grading facial expression is a sensitive means to detect grimace differences in orofacial pain in a rat model.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- A Nociceptive Role for Integrin Signaling in Pain After Mechanical Injury to the Spinal Facet Capsular Ligament.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2017Article
- Ablation of IB4 non-peptidergic afferents in the rat facet joint prevents injury-induced pain and thalamic hyperexcitability via supraspinal glutamate transporters.Neuroscience letters · 2017Article
- The Interface of Mechanics and Nociception in Joint Pathophysiology: Insights From the Facet and Temporomandibular Joints.Journal of biomechanical engineering · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
designImmunohistochemistry labeled pre- and postsynaptic structural markers to quantify excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the spinal superficial dorsal horn at 14 days after painful facet joint injury in the rat.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between pain and synapse density in the spinal cord after facet injury. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Neck pain is a major contributor to disability and often becomes chronic. The cervical facet joints are susceptible to loading-induced painful injury, initiating spinal central sensitization responses. Although excitatory synapse plasticity has been reported in the superficial dorsal horn early after painful facet injury, whether excitatory and/or inhibitory synapse density is altered at a time when pain is maintained is unknown.
methodsRats underwent either a painful C6/C7 facet joint distraction or sham surgery. Mechanical hyperalgesia was measured and immunohistochemistry techniques for synapse quantification were used to quantify excitatory and inhibitory synapse densities in the superficial dorsal horn at day 14. Logarithmic correlation analyses evaluated whether the severity of facet injury correlated with either behavioral or synaptic outcomes.
resultsFacet joint injury induces pain that is sustained until day 14 (P <0.001) and both significantly greater excitatory synapse density (P = 0.042) and lower inhibitory synapse density (P = 0.0029) in the superficial dorsal horn at day 14. Injury severity is significantly correlated with pain at days 1 (P = 0.0011) and 14 (P = 0.0002), but only with inhibitory, not excitatory, synapse density (P = 0.0025) at day 14.
conclusionThis study demonstrates a role for structural plasticity in both excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the maintenance of facet-mediated joint pain, and that altered inhibitory, but not excitatory, synapse density correlates to the severity of painful joint injury. Understanding the functional consequences of this spinal structural plasticity is critical to elucidate mechanisms of chronic joint pain. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N /A.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.