Figure 2.

 (A) Perfusion images obtained from depilated rat knee joints scanned transcutaneously using a near-infrared (830 nm) laser Doppler imager. Acute inflammation was induced by injection of carrageenan/kaolin in both sham operated and denervated joints. Perfusion (flux) is colour coded with the lowest perfusion in dark blue, and the highest in red. Inflammatory hyperaemia fails to develop in the denervated knee. (B) At 24 hours after intra-articular carrageenan injection there is marked soft tissue swelling of the knee joint of the sham denervated animal but not in the denervated animal. (C) Changes in diameter of the knee joint over 48 hours demonstrate a rapid increase in swelling of the knee joint in the sham denervated animals, maximal at 24 hours, compared with the minimal change in joint diameter in the denervated animals. Student's t test with Bonferroni correction.