Figure 10.

Grafting RN-NSCs mitigates the severity of CRD-induced AD. A, C, An episode of AD develops in response to CRD, which mimics a visceral pain, in all tested rats (n = 6 or 8 per group). Compared with animals with injury alone, a lower extent of increased MAP is detected in animals grafted with either RN-NSCs or SC-NSCs (one-way ANOVA, p = 0.006; Fisher's PLSD, RN-NSCs: ***p < 0.001; SC-NSCs: **p < 0.01). The change of MAP is nonsignificantly smaller (p > 0.05) in RN-NSC-grafted animals than SC-NSC-grafted animals. In contrast, there is no difference in HR change during CRD between NSC-grafted animals and those with injury alone (ANOVA, p > 0.05), although HR decreases in all three groups corresponding to the stimulus. B, D, After 1 min CRD duration, the MAP and HR gradually recover to baseline level. Quantitative analysis demonstrates distinct recovery time among the three groups, in which the shortest time is displayed in rats grafted with RN-NSCs and the longest time in rats with injury alone. Statistics indicates significantly shorter recovery time in RN-NSC-grafted rats compared with those with injury alone (ANOVA, p = 0.018; Fisher's PLSD, **p < 0.01). However, the recovery time in SC-NSC-grafted rats, longer than RN-NSC-grafted rats but shorter than rats with injury alone, is nonsignificantly different versus both groups (Fisher's PLSD, both p > 0.05). NS, not significant.