Fig. 3
Blocking function of dorsal root ganglionic Nav1.7 partially attenuated paclitaxel-induced hyperalgesia in rats. Rats (n = 15) were equally divided into three groups, Sham surgery, neutralized antibody, and active antibody group, and received dorsal root ganglionic injection with 7 μL (5 μg) Nav1.7 antibody, neutralized Nav1.7 antibody, and underwent surgical exposure but no injection (sham surgery), respectively. The paclitaxel was intraperitoneal injected at dose of 2 mg/kg after 2 h of the DRGs microinjection on days 0, 2, 4 and 6. The PWT was measured at 1 day before-injection (baseline) and 7 days after first paclitaxel administration. a The neutralization efficiency was assessed using Western blotting with protein extracted from the rat ganglion tissues. β-actin was used as an inner control. The dorsal ganglionic Nav1.7 band can be detected by the Nav1.7 antibody, but not the neutralized Nav1.7 antibody. b Sham is compared with neutralized antibody and results indicate that surgery does not show a significant difference. And comparing neutralized antibody with active antibody, results indicate that PWT is significantly higher in functional antibody than neutralized one. All data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 5 each group). *P < 0.05 versus baseline under the same treatment; # P < 0.05 vs. Sham surgery, & P < 0.05 vs. neutralized Nav1.7 antibody 7 days after first paclitaxel administration