Activation of the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin in the Rostral Ventromedial Medulla Contributes to the Maintenance of Nerve Injury-Induced Neuropathic Pain in Rat

Figure 2

mTOR was remarkably activated in the RVM after SNI. (a)–(f) Double immunostaining showed that p-mTOR (red) was almost exclusively expressed in neurons (green). Single arrows indicate some typical double-labeled (yellow) cells. (a)–(g) Cell counting in the RVM shows that the number of p-mTOR-positive neurons was significantly increased 7 days after the SNI surgery ( compared to the sham control group). Scale bars = 100 μm. (h)–(l) The expression levels of total and phosphorylated mTOR (h, i, and j) and S6K (h, k, and l) were revealed by western blotting. Three days after SNI, phosphorylated mTOR and S6K (p-mTOR and p-S6K) in the RVM were significantly increased. Nonphosphorylated mTOR and S6K were not changed after SNI ( compared to the naïve control group, ).

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