Figure 1
From: TRESK channel contribution to nociceptive sensory neurons excitability: modulation by nerve injury
Axotomy effects on background K+ channels. A. Sciatic nerve axotomy induces hyperexcitability of DRG sensory neurons recorded in the acutely dissected ganglion. Excitability was measured as the number of spikes fired by a 1s pulse 2.5× action potential threshold. Left. Examples of an axotomized and a contralateral uninjured control neuron. Right: Quantification of number of spikes fired, input resistance, resting membrane potential and action potential threshold. *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001 t-test axotomized vs. control (n = 8 for each group). B. Effect of axotomy (top) and sham surgery (bottom) on K2P channels mRNA. Expression changes were normalized with the contralateral uninjured side for each independent animal (n = 4) and expressed as mean ± SEM. A significant decrease in expression was found for TRESK (***p < 0.001). As a positive control, expression of the calcium subunit Cacna2d1 was detected and found upregulated after axotomy (p < 0.001), as previously described, but not after sham surgery.