Skip to main content
Figure 2 | Molecular Pain

Figure 2

From: Spinal 5-HT3 receptors mediate descending facilitation and contribute to behavioral hypersensitivity via a reciprocal neuron-glial signaling cascade

Figure 2

Selective activation of 5-HT 3 A receptors induces increase of both GFAP and Iba1 expression in the spinal dorsal horn but not in glial cells. A. Immunoreactivity of GFAP, a marker of astrocytes, and Iba1 or CD11b, markers of microglia. Upper panels are of the spinal dorsal horn of rats at 2 h after receiving 10 pmol SR 57227 or vehicle. An increased expression of GFAP, Iba1 or CD11b was observed in an enlarged superficial dorsal horn (lower panels) corresponding to the small rectangle area in upper panels when compared to the vehicle-treated rats. B. Western blots at the expected molecular weights illustrate significant increases in the levels of GFAP and Iba1 in the spinal dorsal horn of rats at 2 h after intrathecal injection of SR57227 (10 pmol) compared with rats receiving saline. Representative blots are shown above and relative protein levels (% of naive) are shown in the bottom histograms (*, p < 0.05, **, p < 0.01, vs. saline group, n = 3 per group). C. Double immunostaining shows that SR57227 (10 pmol, i.t.)-induced GFAP or CD11b expression in the dorsal horn astrocytes or microglial cells was not colocalized with 5-HT3A receptor immunoreactivity. Scale bar = 25 μm.

Back to article page