Sympathetic fibre sprouting in the skin contributes to pain-related behaviour in spared nerve injury and cuff models of neuropathic pain

摘要

BackgroundCuff and spared nerve injury (SNI) in the sciatic territory are widely used to model neuropathic pain. Because nociceptive information is first detected in skin, it is important to understand how alterations in peripheral innervation contribute to pain in each model. Over 16 weeks in male rats, changes in sensory and autonomic innervation of the skin were described after cuff and SNI using immunohistochemistry to label myelinated (neurofilament 200 positive>—NF200+) and peptidergic (calcitonin gene-related peptide positive>—CGRP+) primary afferents and sympathetic fibres (dopamine β-hydroxylase positive>—DBH+)