Table 2.

Ventral striatal neurotransmitter content and correlations with mechanical thresholds of the hind paw

	Neurotransmitter content					Correlation with mechanical threshold		Correlation with mechanical threshold
	Naïve	Sham	Cuff	Test	K-W/F Statistic (df) (p value)	Sham		Cuff
	Mean pg/ug±SEM (n)	Mean pg/ug±SEM (n)	Mean pg/ug±SEM (n)			r	p value	r	p value
DA	5405.6 ± 998.1 (6)	10908 ±5029.4 (8)	606.6 ± 225.0 (7)	K-W	6.7 (2,20) (0.03)*	−0.86	0.006**	0.16	0.74
5HT	253.3 ± 27.3 (6)	479.3 ± 63.4 (8)	394.0 ± 49.1 (8)	K-W	5.6 (2,22) (>0.05)	0.0004	0.99	0.14	0.72
NE	527.7 ± 46.2 (7)	1331.4 ± 310.5 (8)	1399.2 ± 136.6 (7)	K-W	8.6 (2,21) (0.01)*	−0.003	0.99	0.76	0.04*
DOPAC	758.2 ±195.8 (7)	615.7 ± 190.5 (8)	551.1 ± 173.0 (8)	ANOVA	0.31 (2,23) (>0.05)	−0.68	0.58	−0.06	0.89
3MT	192.5 ±41.1 (5)	128.2 ± 53.2 (6)	59.0 ± 22.1 (6)	ANOVA	2.56 (2,16) (>0.05)	−0.08	0.85	−0.38	0.46
DOPAC/DA	0.2 ± 0.1 (6)	0.7 ± 0.3 (8)	0.6 ± 0.1 (7)	ANOVA	0.19 (2,21) (>0.05)	0.62	0.14	0.76	0.14
3MT/DA	0.03 ± 0.002 (5)	0.03 ± 0.01 (6)	0.06 ± 0.02 (6)	K-W	0.85 (2,16) (>0.05)	−0.16	0.76	−0.23	0.66
DA/5HT	18.5 ± 3.5 (6)	13.4 ± 5.2 (8)	2.2 ± 1.0 (7)	K-W	6.5 (2,20) (0.03)*	−0.92	0.003**	−0.01	0.97

Neurotransmitter levels in the ventral striatum of naïve, sham and cuff groups 2 weeks after nerve lesion. Protein levels were measured by HPLC and normalized to total protein of the sample. Values expressed as group means±SEM, followed by sample size in brackets. DA=dopamine, 5HT=serotonin, NE=norepinephrine, DOPAC=3,4 Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, 3MT=3-Methoxytyramine. Groups were compared with a one-way ANOVA followed by a Tukey’s multiple comparison post hoc analysis or a Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) ANOVA with a Dunn’s multiple comparison post hoc analysis. Pearson’s correlation was used to compare mechanical thresholds with neurotransmitter levels.

^*= statistically significant.

^**= statistically significant.