Figure 1

Example of sEPSC and mEPSC activity recorded in neurons after axotomy (A) and in control animals (B) without and after TNFα treatment. C) TNFα (60 nM) pretreatment robustly increased the frequency of sEPSC in slices after sciatic nerve section (n = 12, ^##P < 0.01) compared to non-pretreated slices (n = 18). Mean mEPSC frequency was similar after acute tetrodotoxin (TTX, 0.5 μM) application in both groups, with and without TNFα treatment and significantly reduced compared to the sEPSC frequency (***P < 0.001). D) Mean sEPSC (n = 9, ^##P < 0.01) and mEPSC (^#P < 0.05) frequency was significantly higher in control animals after TNFα treatment. TTX application reduced sEPSC frequency significantly in both TNFα treated (*P < 0.05) and non-treated slices (**P < 0.01). E) TTX application dramatically decreased sEPSC frequency in spinal cord slices after axotomy pretreated with TNFα (n = 12). This TNFα induced TTX dependent decrease of sEPSC frequency was not present in control slices (n = 9). TTX induced decrease of sEPSC frequency in slices after axotomy without TNFα treatment (n = 18) was not statistically different from the results in the control group (n = 20). *: comparison of mEPSC versus sEPSC; #: comparison of TNFα treated sEPSC and mEPSC versus non-treated sEPSC and mEPSC, respectively. F) Lidocaine application reduced mEPSC frequency present during TTX application in neurons from control (n = 6) and axotomized (n = 7) slices. Effect of lidocaine application was not significant after TNFα treatment in the neurons recorded in the control (n = 8) and axotomized (n = 8) slices.