Abstract
Background
Ionomics is used to study levels of ionome in different states of organisms and their correlations. Bone cancer pain (BCP) severely reduces quality of life of patients or their lifespan. However, the relationship between BCP and ionome remains unclear.
Methods
The BCP rat model was constructed through inoculation of Walker 256 cells into the left tibia. Von Frey test, whole-cell patch-clamp recording and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technologies were conducted for measuring tactile hypersensitivity, the frequency and amplitude of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) of neurons of spinal slices, and ionome of spinal cord samples, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to explore ionomic patterns of the spinal cord.
Results
The BCP rat model was successfully constructed through implantation of Walker 256 cells into the left tibia. The frequency and amplitude of mEPSCs of neurons in the spinal cord slices from the BCP model rats were notably greater than those in the sham control. In terms of ionomics, the spinal cord levels of two macroelements (Ca and S), four microelements (Fe, Mn, Li and Sr) and the toxic element Ti in the BCP group of rats were significantly increased by inoculation of Walker 256 cancer cells, compared to the sham control. In addition, the correlation patterns between the elements were greatly changed between the sham control and BCP groups. PCA showed that inoculation of Walker 256 cells into the tibia altered the overall ionomic profiles of the spinal cord. There was a significant separation trend between the two groups.
Conclusion
Taken together, inoculation of Walker 256 cells into the left tibia contributes to BCP, which could be closely correlated by some elements. The findings provided novel information on the relationship between the ionome and BCP.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in the study involving animals were in accordance with an approved protocol issued by Animal Care and Welfare Committee of Shanghai Municipal Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, China. The animal experiments strictly adhered to the National Institutes of Health Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Publication No. 80-23, revised 1996). The use of Walker 256 cells in the study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Shanghai Municipal Sixth People’s Hospital.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Prof. Ling Xu at LongHua Hospital Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China, for the kind gift of Walker 256 cancer cell line. We also would like to thank Master Zhanying Wei from Department of Osteoporosis and Bone Diseases, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, for the μCT scan experimental assistance.
Disclosure
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.