Microinjection of Virus into Lumbar Enlargement of Spinal Dorsal Horn in Mice

In order to explore the role of a specific gene/protein in the specific segment of the spinal cord, the technique of intraspinal injection is particularly used to deliver viral vectors targeting the specific gene/protein. These viral vectors can knockdown or overexpress the specific gene/protein in specific cells (glial cells or neurons). In this protocol, lentivirus containing shRNA for CXCL13 were injected into the dorsal horn of the spinal lumbar enlargement segment (Jiang et al., 2016). This technique allows the study of the role of CXCL13 in the ipsilateral dorsal horn in neuropathic pain without affecting DRG or contralateral dorsal horn.