FIGURE 5.

Fibulin-2 is upregulated in the spinal cord of neuropathic rats. (A) qRT-PCR analysis of fibulin-2 mRNA in the ipsilateral spinal dorsal horn of sham rats, neuropathic rats (SNL), and SNL rats injected with anti-fibulin-2 siRNA (SNL + siRNA) or with mismatch RNA (SNL + mmRNA). Data are expressed as percentage of sham ± SEM. Fibulin-2 expression increased in ipsilateral dorsal horn of neuropathic rats. This increase was efficiently prevented by siRNA injection. The injection of mmRNA had no effect on fibulin-2 expression. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 “sham” vs. “SNL”; n.s.: p > 0.05. (B) qRT-PCR analysis of mRNA of fibulin-2 in the ipsilateral dorsal root ganglia of sham and neuropathic (SNL) rats. Data are expressed as percentage of sham ± SEM. No significant changes are seen (n.s.: p > 0.05 “sham” vs. “SNL). (C) qRT-PCR analysis of mRNA of fibulin-1 in the ipsilateral spinal dorsal horn of sham and neuropathic (SNL) rats. Data are expressed as percentage of sham ± SEM. No significant changes are observed (n.s.: p > 0.05 “sham” vs. “SNL). (D1) Immunohistochemistry for endogenous fibulin-2 in the ipsilateral dorsal horn of sham (a), and neuropathic (SNL) (b) rats. The dotted line indicates the dorsal limit of the spinal cord section. Framed areas of the lamina II (II) in (a,b) are displayed at higher magnification in (c,d), respectively. Fibulin-2 expression was very low in sham animals (arrowheads in c) whereas an intense staining could be seen in the SNL group (arrowheads in d). (D2) The quantification of the signal intensity confirmed the significant difference in the ipsilateral dorsal horn between sham and SNL groups. In contrast, no changes is seen in the contralateral dorsal horn (n = 3 sections from 7 animals in sham and SNL groups). **p < 0.01; n.s.: p > 0.05.