Ablation of all sensory neurons in adult mice - Has anyone reported it?

Experimental Techniques Animal Behavior and Models
1

I was wondering if anyone has reported ablation of all somatosensory neurons in adult mice. I know people have ablated all Nav1.8 neurons, which is mostly all nociceptors and some non-nocicpetors. But has anyone gotten rid of all sensory neurons? What happens?

Abrahamsen, B., Zhao, J., Asante, C.O., Cendan, C.-M., Marsh, S., Martinez-Barbera, J.P., Nassar, M.A., Dickenson, A.H., and Wood, J.N. (2008). The cell and molecular basis of mechanical, cold, and inflammatory pain. Science 321 , 702–705.

2

They’re definitely going to be neonatal lethal. I remember when the TrkB knockouts first came out, they weren’t able to nurse and died within a few days after birth. Some of the TrkA/NGF knockout lines didn’t survive for more than a few weeks, some lasted longer. TrkC knockouts lose the proprioceptors and clearly couldn’t tell where their limbs were, they would leave them sticking out at weird angles. So get rid of all sensory neurons together and they aren’t going to survive for more than a few days. What might happen within the nervous system developmentally, I have no idea.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the insights @dmolliver. I was thinking temporally controlled ablation, like with DTR in an adult with Diptheria toxin.