Figure 4.

Effects of intrathecal NSC23766 (1 mg·mL⁻¹), a selective inhibitor of Rac1, on the BV‐induced phosphorylation of Rac1 and its downstream effector PAK and enhancement of GTP‐bound Rac1 activity. The left panels of A, B and C show representative immunoblotting and pull‐down assay bands of phosphorylated form and total protein level of Rac1 and PAK and GTP‐bound Rac1. The right panels of A, B and C show quantitative analysis of the level of phosphorylated form and total protein expression for Rac1 (n = 5) and PAK (n = 5) and that of GTP bound Rac1 activity (n = 5) in group of animals receiving s.c. saline injection (Control), s.c. BV injection followed by intrathecal vehicle (saline, BV + Veh) and s.c. BV injection followed by intrathecal NSC23766 (BV + NSC). The relative density for bands of phosphorylated Rac1 or PAK was normalized to the value of total Rac1 or PAK. The relative density for bands of GTP‐Rac1 activity was normalized to the total Rac1. The relative density for bands of total Rac1 and PAK was normalized to Tubulin. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, significantly different from Control. #P < 0.05, significantly different from BV + Veh. p‐Rac1, phosphorylated Rac1; p‐PAK, phosphorylated PAK.