The Journal of comparative neurology
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Previous studies have suggested that sympathetic sprouting in the periphery may contribute to the development and persistence of sympathetically maintained pain in animal models of neuropathic pain. In the present study, we examined changes in the cutaneous innervation in rats with a chronic constriction injury to the sciatic nerve. At several periods postinjury, hind paw skin was harvested and processed by using a monoclonal antibody against dopamine-beta-hydroxylase to detect sympathetic fibers and a polyclonal antibody against calcitonin gene-related peptide to identify peptidergic sensory fibers. ⋯ The ectopic sympathetic fibers did not innervate blood vessels but formed a novel association and wrapped around sprouted peptidergic nociceptive fibers. Our data show a long-term sympathetic and sensory innervation change in the rat hind paw skin after the chronic constriction injury. This novel fiber arrangement after nerve lesion may play an important role in the development and persistence of sympathetically maintained neuropathic pain after partial nerve lesions.