Figure 5. AAV2-cRheb activated the mTOR pathway within neurons of the rVRG.
At 15 weeks post-SCI, AAV2-cRheb-HA injected animals showed high expression levels of the HA tag within rVRG neurons (A). In addition, the HA tag overlapped with mCherry-labeled cells (B-C); scale bar: 100 μm. Compared to AAV2-GFP control (D, D′, D″), AAV2-cRheb-HA injection (E, E′, E″) induced an approximately three-fold increase in pS6K levels in NeuN+ rVRG cells at 15 weeks post-SCI, as well as a significant increase over laminectomy-only uninjured control (F), scale bar: 100 μm.