Figure 3From: Up-regulation of platelet-activating factor synthases and its receptor in spinal cord contribute to development of neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injury Peripheral nerve injury enhances the expression of mRNA for PAF receptor in ipsilateral spinal microglia. (A) Upper panels show PCR products from the ipsilateral L4-L5 spinal cord taken from 0 (naive), 1, 3, 7 and 14 days after nerve injury. Lower graphs show the statistical quantification of the relative mRNA levels of PAFr. PAFr mRNA level was normalized against GAPDH (n = 4, mean ± SEM, #; p < 0.05 compared with naive). (B, C) Darkfield photographs reveal the ISHH for PAFr mRNA expression in the spinal cord taken from naïve rats (B) or 7 days (C) after SNI surgery. (D-F) Characterization of SNI-induced PAFr mRNA in the spinal dorsal horn. Brightfield photographs of combined ISHH for PAFr with IHC for NeuN (D), GFAP (E) and Iba1 (F) at 7 days after injury. Open arrows indicate double-labeled cells. Arrowheads indicate single-labeled cells by ISHH (aggregation of grains), and open arrowheads indicate single immunostained cells (brown staining). Calibration bars: darkfield images; 500 μm, brightfield images; 20 μm.Back to article page