Figure 5

p62 accumulation in the spinal cord following spinal nerve ligation. (A) p62 expression was analyzed by Western blot in the hemi-cord contralateral (C) and ipsilateral (I) to the side of ligation, 7 days after surgery. The minor band detected by the antibody together with the main upper band has been previously suggested as a p62 splicing variant or a partially cleaved product [19]. SNL animals showed higher p62 expression than sham animals (A). A clear trend towards an increased p62 expression in the ipsilateral (I) compared to the contralateral (C) side was observed after ligation (A) and confirmed by densitometric analysis (B). The increase in p62 levels correlated with α2δ-1 upregulation (A and C) and was confirmed by quantitative analysis (n = 5, D). Signals from each band were normalized towards the corresponding GAPDH signal. Values were expressed as mean ± SEM, * p < 0.05.