Figure 1
From: Modulation of chloride homeostasis by inflammatory mediators in dorsal root ganglion neurons
In vitro assay to study the effects of inflammatory mediators by immunohistochemistry. (A) Increased expression of neuropeptides during treatment with inflammatory mediators. The immunfluorescence of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) was evaluated at the indicated times after start of the treatment. The relative number of neuropeptide-expressing neurons was determined in test DRGs and in contralateral control DRGs, and the percent change of positive cells, Δ NP = (NPtest-NPctr)/NPctr·100 [%], is given for each time. Indicated significance levels are p ≤ 0.05 (*) or p ≤ 0.01 (**). (B) Cryosections of a control DRG and the treated contralateral test DRG stained with NKCC1 antibodies. The red circles illustrate the area from which the mean fluorescence intensity was obtained. Background subtraction removed most of the pericellular fluorescence as well as the fluorescence originating from the nucleus. All cell sections with intact perimeter were evaluated. (C) Distribution of fluorescence intensities recorded from 3 control DRGs (blue) and 3 contralateral test DRGs (red) illustrate a shift to higher intensities after a 3-hr treatment with inflammatory mediators. Solid lines are Gaussian fits to the data.