Authors

Discussion

Dorsal root gandlia (DRGs) span the length of the spinal cord and house the neural cell bodies responsible for periphery sensation, including pain perception, making them a key target for modulation of chronic pain. Under pain conditions the neuropeptide Galanin (GAL) is induced in a subset of neurons and is thought to play an inhibitory role in pain processing. Using GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling, the relationship between these GAL positive neurons and the surrounding Neurons and non-Neurons was investigated. Dimensional reduction of transcriptomic profiles showed a separations of different regions within the DRG, indicating distinct transcriptomic profiles. Interestingly, cell type deconvolution showed an enrichment of satellite glial cells (SGCs) around GAL positive neurons, key modulatory of pain thresholds. Additionally, ligand signalling analysis showed enrichment of SGC specific ligands in the same region, implicating SGC signalling in the modulation of pain signalling in GAL positive neurons following pain induction.