Comparison of Electroacupuncture and Morphine-Mediated Analgesic Patterns in a Plantar Incision-Induced Pain Model

Figure 5

Effect of EA and morphine on Fos expression 3 hr after PI in the lumbar (L4 or L5) spinal dorsal horns. (a)–(d) are section slices showing spinal dorsal horn at the PI-ipsilateral side in the Naïve group ((a) rats without any operation or treatment), Sham+PI group ((b) rats with PI and sham needling and saline injection), EA+PI group ((c) rats with PI and pretreated EA), and Mor+PI group ((d) rats with PI and preinjected morphine). (e) Numbers of Fos-immunoreactive cells by lamina in the spinal dorsal horn among groups. Note no differences between the EA+PI and Mor+PI groups. Laminas I-II: superficial dorsal horn, laminas III-IV: middle dorsal horn, and lamina V: deep dorsal horn. DH: dorsal horn; ∗ < 0.05, ∗∗∗ < 0.001 groups versus Sham+PI, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test; for each group. Scale bar = 100 μm.

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