Parthenolide Relieves Pain and Promotes M2 Microglia/Macrophage Polarization in Rat Model of Neuropathy

Figure 4

Effects of PTL on the protein levels of p-p38, p-ERK1/2, p-NF-κB, and p-STAT3 in the spinal cord 7 days after CCI. Seven days after CCI in the lumbar dorsal cord a significant increase of p-p38 (a) and p-ERK1/2 (b) proteins levels was observed. Repeated administration of PTL reduced the upregulation of p-p38 (a) and p-ERK 1/2 (b) protein levels in comparison with those of CCI-exposed rats. Similarly, seven days after CCI in the ipsilateral dorsal spinal cord, p-NF-κB (c) protein level was significantly upregulated by nerve injury and repeated PTL administration inhibited the level of p-NF-κB (c). At day 7 after CCI, strong upregulation of p-STAT3 was observed (d). Chronic PTL-treatment caused enhancement of p-STAT3 (d). The Western blot data are presented as the mean ± SEM and represent the normalized averages derived from analyses of 5–7 samples for each group. Intergroup differences were analyzed using ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test. , , and indicate significant differences compared to naïve rats. ^# and ^## indicate significant differences compared with the vehicle-treated CCI-exposed rats. N-naïve, V-vehicle, and PTL-parthenolide. The immunoblots shown are representative of 5–7 individual samples.

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