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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Aug 19.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Neurosci. 2021 Dec 20;25(2):168–179. doi: 10.1038/s41593-021-00973-8

Figure 5. Edema Toxin attenuates neurotransmission at nociceptor central terminals.

Figure 5.

(a, b) Mice received intrathecal injection of vehicle or ET (2 μg PA + 2 μg EF), followed by intrathecal injection of vehicle or capsaicin (1 μg) after 2 hours. Spinal cords were harvested after 20 min and stained for pERK. (a) Representative images of pERK staining in the dorsal horn. Scale bar, 100 μm. (b) Quantification of the number of pERK-positive cells in the superficial laminae of the dorsal horn. 8–12 sections were quantified and averaged per animal (n=3 mice).

(c) Representative horizontal spinal cord slice preparation with the attached L4 dorsal root and a lamina I neuron (inset). Scale bar, 500 μm and 20 μm (inset).

(d) C-fiber EPSCs elicited in a lamina I neuron by stimulation of the L4 dorsal root (paired 400 μA stimuli at a 1 s interval). The measured conduction velocity was 0.7 m/s, consistent with C-fiber activation.

(e, f) Collected results (n=13 cells). (e) Application of ET (10 nM PA + 10 nM EF) reduced the first EPSC by 37±4 %. (f) No significant changes were observed in the paired pulse ratio.

Statistical significance was assessed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test (b) or two-tailed paired t-test (e, f). n.s, not significant, *p<0.05, ****p<0.0001. Data represent the mean ± s.e.m. For detailed statistical information, see Supplementary Table 2.