Fig. 5

The CXCR7 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways are involved in CPSP in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. a, b, d, e Representative western blot images and quantification of CXCL12 (a), CXCR7 (b), p-PI3K (d), and p-Akt (e) in the spinal cords of sham and SMIR group rats (n = 4). c Double immunofluorescence staining for CXCR7 (red) labeling with GFAP (green) for astrocytes, Iba1 (green) for microglia, or NeuN (green) for neurons in sham and SMIR rats at day 14 after surgery (n = 3). Scale bar: 50 μm or 200 μm. f–h Representative western blot images and quantification of CXCR7, p-PI3K, and p-Akt in the spinal cords of SMIR rats after injection of vehicle or minocycline (n = 3–4). Compared with the sham rats, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. The expression of CXCR7 was normalized to GAPDH for each sample, and p-P13K and p-Akt were normalized to PI3K and Akt, respectively, for each sample. The fold change of CXCR7, p-PI3K, and p-Akt in the sham group was set as 1 for quantification. d: day; GFAP: glial fibrillary acidic protein; IBA1: ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1; NeuN: neuronal nuclei; SMIR: skin/muscle incision and retraction