Figure 1.
a–l, SNL induces persistent JNK activation in spinal astroglia. a, b, Immunohistochemistry reveals increases in pJNK levels in the ipsilateral spinal dorsal horn (L5) 10 d after SNL. White lines indicate the border of the dorsal horn gray matter. Scale bar, 50 μm. c, d, High-magnification images from a and b, respectively, showing pJNK staining in the medial superficial dorsal horn. Scale bar, 50 μm. e, Double immunofluorescence shows that pJNK (red) is completely colocalized with astroglia marker GFAP (green) in the medial superficial dorsal horn. Two single-stained images were merged. e has the same magnification as c. f, High-magnification image from e demonstrating the colocalization of pJNK and GFAP. Scale bar, 25 μm. g, h, SNL also induces JNK activation in the dorsal horn after 3 weeks. Scale bar, 25 μm. i, Colocalization of pJNK (i) and GFAP (i′) in the superficial dorsal horn 21 d after SNL. i″ is the merge of i and i′. Scale bar, 25 μm. j, Time course of pJNK induction in the L5 spinal cord after SNL, as indicated by the number of pJNK-IR cells in the superficial dorsal horn (laminas I–III). **p < 0.01 by ANOVA compared with control (n = 3 and 4). k, l, SNL induces persistent activation of astrocytes in the dorsal horn after 3 weeks, as indicated by GFAP upregulation. Scale bar, 50 μm.