Fig. 7

VEGF-A silencing in astrocytes prevents neuropathic pain. VEGF-A in spinal astrocytes was silenced by injecting in the spinal cord a VEGF-A specific AAV-derived shRNAmir targeting glial cells (AAV1-GFAP-eGFP-VEGF-A-shRNAmir). A shRNAmir vector containing a scrambled sequence was injected and used as control. (a) Representative images of eGFP and GFAP fluorescence in a whole section at lumbar level, scale bar: 100 μm. Higher magnifications were reported to visualize the colocalization, scale bar: 50 μm (n = 4). (b) Representative western blot images and densitometric analysis showing the expression of VEGF-A in the lumbar section of the spinal cord after vector administration (n = 4, blot of samples obtained from 2 animals of each group are shown). Pain threshold was evaluated by (c) Cold plate and (d) Paw pressure tests (n = 5). Each value represents the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 vs vehicle; ^P < 0.05 and ^^P < 0.01 vs scrambled + oxaliplatin group. The analysis of variance was performed by one-way ANOVA. A Bonferroni’s significant difference procedure was used as post-hoc comparison