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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2015 Nov;23(11):1999–2008. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2015.06.012

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Facet joint distraction (FJD) induced pain associated with increased NGF expression in the joint. (A) FJD reduced the forepaw withdrawal threshold to mechanical stimulation at day 1 compared to baseline (#p<0.001) and sham procedures (*p<0.001). (B) Representative Western blots show NGF (top) and β-tubulin (bottom) expression in the joint tissue. (C) FJD significantly increased NGF in the joint tissue (*p=0.031) over levels in sham at day 1. Immunolabeling for NGF increased in the soft tissues surrounding the joint (solid arrows), including the capsular ligament, at day 1 after FJD (D) compared to labeling in shams (E). Scale bar in (D) is 50µm and applies to (D) and (E). The amplified inset boxes in (D) and (E) are 50µm wide. CL: capsular ligament; F: inferior facet of the superior vertebra; M: muscle (dashed arrow); NGF: nerve growth factor.