Small fiber neuropathy involving neuropathic pain, which is evident by the degeneration of IENFs, is common in various types of conditions, such as DM, and as a result of the neurotoxic effects of chemotherapeutic agents1,2,3,4,5. IENFs are the peripheral terminals of small-diameter neurons located in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), and are affected in parallel in cases of IENF degeneration6. For example, the altered upstream genetic transcription of neuronal somata has been demonstrated by the upregulation of activating transcription factor-3 (ATF3)6,7. Moreover, the evaluation of IENFs innervation with skin biopsy is useful for the diagnosis of small fiber neuropathy5,8,9. Traditionally, the profiles of the IENFs on the skin biopsy have depended on immunohistochemical demonstration of protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5)1,10,11. Taken together, the pathological profiles of DRG and IENFs reflect the functional condition underlying small fiber neuropathy and may be an indicator for the functional consequences of this type of neuropathy on small-diameter neurons.
Previously, several experimental models have addressed the issue of IENF degeneration in cases of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy12,13 and nerve injury caused by compression or transection14,15,16. These experimental models also affected large-diameter nerves; it was, therefore, not possible to exclude the contribution of affected large-diameter nerves in the observed small fiber neuropathy; for instance, the examination of thermosensation disorder by noxious withdrawal depends on functional motor nerve fibers17,18,19. Thus, establishing a pure small fiber neuropathy model and systematically investigating the pathological status of both neuronal somata and their peripheral cutaneous nerve fibers in small-diameter neurons are necessary and imperative.
RTX is a capsaicin analogue and a potent agonist to transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1), which mediates nociceptive processing20,21,22. Recently, peripheral RTX treatment relieved neurogenic pain23,24,25 and an intraganglionic injection of RTX induced irreversible loss of DRG neurons22. The effect of peripheral RTX administration is dose-dependent20,26,27, which resulted in the transient desensitization or degeneration of IENFs. Intriguingly, systematic high-dose RTX treatment led to neuropathic pain28, a symptom of small fiber neuropathy. These findings suggest that the treatment mode and dose of RTX produce distinct pathological effects and neuronal responses; to wit, peripheral administration prevented pain transmission by local effects29 and affected the neuronal somata that developed neuropathic behavior6. Collectively, these findings indicate that RTX has a multipotency effect and raised the issue whether there is a specific dose of RTX that could systematically affect the peripheral nerves, such as the peripheral IENFs and central neuronal somata. If so, RTX might be a potential agent to specifically affect small-diameter neurons and mimic small fiber neuropathy in the clinic. For example, DM in the clinic is a complicated issue including metabolic disorder and neuropathology of peripheral nerves, which are the main characteristics of small fiber neuropathy. The mechanisms of DM-associated small fiber neuropathy could not exclude the contribution of metabolic disorder that may not be the main agent affecting peripheral nerves. Therefore, DM-associated small fiber neuropathy requires a pure animal model that could exclude the effects of systematic metabolic disorder. This protocol describes the working dose of RTX to develop a typical small fiber neuropathy model, including IENF degeneration and small-diameter neuron injury, as demonstrated by modified immunostaining analysis.