Figure 7. NT3 expression in DRGs 1 and 4 days after Inflammation.

A: Western blots of pools of 2 DRGs (L4 and L5) from one rat per pool. Upper: NT3 examples from two normal rats, two 1 day CFA rats (ipsilateral DRGs) and two 4 day CFA rats. Lower: the α-tubulin Westerns on the same lane as the NT3 as loading controls. The NT3 has decreased at both 1 and 4 days, both ipsilaterally and contralaterally. Below, the ratios of pixel densities (NT3:α-tubulin). B: Plots of these ratios confirm this (one symbol per rat) and show a significant decrease after 4 days in NT3 ipsilaterally (I) relative to contralaterally (C) and to normal (Nor). C: Graph of NT3 staining: Each symbol shows the average pixel densities for one rat from 9 regions from capured images (examples in D–H) of a mid-section of an L4 DRG. The plot confirms the findings in B. Nor, C and I defined as for B. It shows a highly significant reduction 4 days after cutaneous CFA-induced inflammation ipsilaterally compared with both contralaterally and with normal. Non-significant decreases in immunoreactivity after 1 day ipsilaterally and contralaterally and after 4 days contralaterally can also be seen. D to H: ABC immunostaining for NT3 in L4 DRGs was most intense in normal rats and least intense ipsilaterally 4 days after CFA-induced inflammation. The staining was in all cell sizes, and diminished in all cell sizes after inflammation.