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. 2010 Apr 26;120(5):1603–1616. doi: 10.1172/JCI40000

Figure 8. Combined spinal cord and peripheral nerve injury suppress spinal cord DNA methylation, and FA restores methylation levels to baseline.

Figure 8

A global methylation assay (23) was performed to measure methyl group incorporation into DNA from rat spinal cord tissue in response to dorsal column/left sciatic nerve injury and FA supplementation. Global methylation in the spinal cord tissue was measured by a scintillation counter indicating the amount of radioactively labeled methyl groups incorporated into the sequence. The cpm values of each experimental group correspond inversely to the extent of global DNA methylation in the spinal cord in vivo. We show that global methylation is suppressed by injury, and the methylation levels are restored in response to the 80 μg/kg dose of FA. N, uninjured control spinal cord; I, spinal cord/sciatic nerve injury; F, spinal cord/sciatic nerve injury and treatment with FA at 80 μg/kg. n = 20 (N); n = 32 (I); n = 33 (F). One-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s correction; mean ± SEM; *P < 0.05.