Figure 9
The inhibitive effect of i.t. Ad-PTEN on CCI-induced downregulation of PTEN and upregulation of phospho-mTOR. Spinal cord sections (10 μm) obtained 14 days post-surgery from sham-operated plus i.t. vehicle (A, D), CCI plus i.t. Ad-GFP (B, E), and CCI plus i.t. Ad-PTEN (C, F) groups. Immunostaining images show cells labeled with PTEN (red) (A-C) and phospho-mTOR (red) (D-F) in the spinal cord. Quantification of PTEN (G) and phospho-mTOR (H) immunoreactivity in the ipsilateral dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal gray matter, and each bar in (G-H) represents the mean ± SEM with six rats per group. Ad-PTEN (i.t.) significantly attenuated CCI-induced downregulation of spinal PTEN immunoreactivity and upregulation of spinal phospho-mTOR immunoreactivity. Scale bars: 200 μm for all images (A–F). *P < 0.05 compared with sham-operated plus i.t. vehicle group; # P < 0.05 compared with CCI plus i.t. Ad-GFP. Ad-GFP, adenovirus-mediated green fluorescent protein; Ad-PTEN, adenovirus-mediated phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted from chromosome 10; CCI, chronic constriction injury; p-mTOR, phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin.