Figure 7.

Blockage of autophagy flux by CQ abolishes the analgesic effect of metformin (50 mg/kg/d). (A) The mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) tests and (B) thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) tests of rats in the SNL group, SNL + Met group and SNL + Met + 3‐MA group. (C) Immunohistochemistry staining of c‐Fos in the three groups. The red arrows show the neuron cells with positive staining for c‐Fos. Scale bar = 20 μm. (D) Protein expression of c‐Fos in the SNL, SNL + Met and SNL + Met + 3‐MA groups, respectively. (E) The optical density analysis of c‐Fos protein. Values are expressed as the mean ± SEM, n = 5 per group. ^*** P < 0.001, ^** P < 0.01, ^* P < 0.05 vs the SNL group; ^# P < 0.05 vs the SNL + Met group