Figure 4From: Sodium channel Nav1.7 in vascular myocytes, endothelium, and innervating axons in human skinNav1.7 immunolabeling (IL) of arterioles and associated innervation in normal human palmar glabrous skin biopsies, in alternating sections cut parallel to and through lumen (*) of branched arteriole (A-C) and parallel to arteriole, skimming the interface between tunica media (tm) and tunica adventitia (ta) (D,E). All sections are labeled with Abcam anti-human Nav1.7 antibody (red). Secondary antibodies conjugated to Alexa 488 (green) were used to assess co-labeling for: smooth muscle cells revealed with mouse anti-α−smooth muscle actin antibody (αSMA, A); peptidergic sensory innervation revealed with sheep anti-CGRP antibody (yellow straight arrows, B,D); and noradrenergic sympathetic innervation revealed with sheep anti-NPY antibody (yellow curved arrows, C,E): Nuclei are labeled with DAPI (blue). Left images in each panel show only the red fluorescence, middle images only green, and right images the triple-label combinations. Areas outlined in large white rectangles (A-C) are 2X enlargements of areas in small rectangles. A-E. A. Nav1.7-IL is expressed on endothelial cells of tunica intima (red arrowheads) and smooth muscle cells of tm as confirmed by double-labeling with anti-αSMA. Nav1.7-IL is expressed on innervation (arrows) in ta, near and at the border with tm. B, D. Peptidergic sensory innervation co-expresses Nav1.7-IL and CGRP-IL (yellow straight arrows). Other innervation labeled only with Nav1.7 (red curved arrows) is likely noradrenergic sympathetic innervation that expresses NPY-IL (C,E). C,E. Noradrenergic sympathetic innervation co-expresses Nav1.7-IL and NPY-IL (yellow curved arrows). Other innervation labeled with only Nav1.7 (red straight arrows) is likely peptidergic sensory innervation that expresses CGRP-IL as shown in B and D. Scale bar = 100 μm in A-C, 50 μm in D and E.Back to article page