Figure 6
Time course of pain-related behavior in rats after intrathecal injection of antisense or mismatch ODNs. (A) Antisense, but not mismatch, ODNs to Nav1.8 administered by intrathecal injection alleviated ambulatory-evoked pain in cancer rats. There were no changes in ambulatory-evoked pain scores in sham rats that received antisense ODNs. Ambulatory-evoked pain scores were reversed by approximately 48 h after antisense ODN administration and returned on the second day after the last Nav1.8 antisense ODN injection (n = 7 each group). Consistently, antisense, but not mismatch, ODNs to Nav1.8 administered by intrathecal injection alleviated established mechanical hyperalgesia in ipsilateral (B) and contralateral (C) paws of in cancer rats. Mechanical hyperalgesia was reversed by approximately 48 h after the antisense ODN administration. The hyperalgesia returned on the second day after the last Nav1.8 antisense ODN injection.