Peripheral administration of interleukin-13 reverses inflammatory macrophage and tactile allodynia in mice with partial sciatic nerve ligation

Inflammatory macrophages play a fundamental role in neuropathic pain. in this study,we demonstrate the effects of peripheral interleukin-13 (il-13) on neuropathic pain after partial sciatic nerve (scn) ligation (psl) in mice. il-13 receptor α1 was upregulated in accumulating macrophages in the injured scn after psl. treatment with il-13 reduced inflammatory macrophage-dominant molecules and increased suppressive macrophage-dominant molecules in cultured lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peritoneal macrophages and ex vivo scn subjected to psl. moreover,the perineural administration of il-13 relieved tactile allodynia after psl. these results suggest that il-13 reverses inflammatory macrophage-dependent neuropathic pain via a phenotype shift toward suppressive macrophages. © 2016 the authors