Figure 6.

Antagonists of ET_A and ET_B receptors inhibit opioid expression after PRFE treatment of HEK and HDF.

Notes: HEK and HDF were pretreated with ET_A and ET_B receptor antagonists (BQ788 and BQ123, respectively) for 1 hour at 100 nM prior to PRFE treatment. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed for the endogenous opioids on RNA isolated 2 hours after PRFE treatment. Data are expressed as percent of untreated antagonist control (n = 6, P < 0.01).

Abbreviations: ET, endothelin; HDF, human dermal fibroblasts; HEK, human epidermal keratinocytes; PRFE, pulsed radiofrequency energy; POMC, proopiomelanocortin; PENK, proenkephalin; PDYN, prodynorphin; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.