Sheng li xue bao : [Acta physiologica Sinica]
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Spinal microglia and astrocytes play an important role in mediating behavioral hypersensitive state following peripheral nerve injury. However, little is known about the expression patterns of activated microglia and astrocytes in the spinal dorsal horn. The aim of the present study was to investigate the spatial distribution of microglial and astrocytic activation in cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral segments of spinal dorsal horn following chronic constriction injury (CCI) of sciatic nerve. ⋯ CX3CR1(YFP)-GFP and GFAP(YFP)-GFP immunofluorescence signal was colocalized with microglial marker Iba-1 and astrocytic marker GFAP, respectively. Interestingly, on day 3 after CCI, Iba-1-immunoreactivity was significantly increased in the ipsilateral thoracic, lumbar and sacral spinal segments of WT mice, whereas the significant upregulation of GFAP-immunoreactivity restrictedly occurred in the ipsilateral lumbar spinal segment. These results suggest that microglial and astrocytic activation may be involved in the development and maintenance of secondary allodynia in mice with neuropathic pain.