Figure 4

Muscle and cutaneous nerve alterations induced by hind paw IR injury. a, b, Photomicrographs of the formazan-stained HPDM of the contralateral (a) and ipsilateral (b) CPIP hind paw, c, Colorimetric assay shows there is significantly less formazan (absorbance (AU) at 585 nm/μg protein) in the ipsilateral (n = 5–7), compared to contralateral (n = 5–7) CPIP HPDM between 2 h and 7 days post-reperfusion (*P < 0.05). d, e, Photo-micrographs of anti-PGP9.5 stained intraepidermal nerve fibers (IENFs, arrows) of sham (d) and 2 day CPIP (e) rat hind paw skin. f, IENF density (number/10 mm) is significantly reduced in day 2 (n = 10) and day 7 (n = 9) CPIP, as compared to sham (n = 11) rats (*P < 0.05). g, Scatter plot of PWT (g) versus the number of IENFs in the ipsilateral CPIP hind paw shows no significant relationship at either 2 or 7 days post-reperfusion. h, Representative voltage traces and analysis summary show there are no significant alterations in sural nerve conduction velocity (CV) between sham (n = 8) and 2 day (n = 6) and 7 day (n = 6) CPIP rats (p > 0.05). All data expressed as mean ± s.e.m.