UCSF

Delayed-onset muscle soreness is typically observed after strenuous or unaccustomed eccentric exercise. Soon after recovery, blunted muscle soreness is observed on repeated eccentric exercise, a phenomenon known as repeated bout effect (RBE). Although regular physical activity decreases muscle hyperalgesia, likely because of increased production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the skeletal muscle, whether IL-10 also contributes to the antinociceptive effect of RBE is unknown. Furthermore, whether IL-10 attenuates muscle hyperalgesia by acting on muscle nociceptors remains to be established. Here, we explored the hypothesis that blunted muscle nociception observed in RBE depends on a local effect of IL-10, acting on IL-10 receptor 1 (IL-10R1) expressed by muscle nociceptors. Results show that after a second bout of eccentric exercise, rats exhibited decreased muscle hyperalgesia, indicative of RBE, and increased expression of IL-10 in the exercised gastrocnemius muscle. Although knockdown of IL-10R1 protein in nociceptors innervating the gastrocnemius muscle by intrathecal antisense oligodeoxynucleotide did not change nociceptive threshold in naive rats, it unveiled latent muscle hyperalgesia in rats submitted to eccentric exercise 12 days ago. Furthermore, antisense also prevented the reduction of muscle hyperalgesia observed after a second bout of eccentric exercise. These data indicate that recovery of nociceptive threshold after eccentric exercise and RBE-induced analgesia depend on a local effect of IL-10, acting on its canonical receptor in muscle nociceptors.