Fig. 8

Inhibiting P2X7R reduced NTG-induced CGRP and c-fos expression in the TNC. a Western blots showing the P2X7R inhibitor, BBG, reduced the expression of P2X7R induced by NTG in the TNC. b Representative immunoblots of c-fos and CGRP in the TNC after BBG treatment. Quantification of band intensities revealed that BBG partially reversed the upregulation of c-fos and CGRP induced by NTG treatment. n = 6 per group; Data are presented as mean ± SEM; one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test; **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 compared with the SHAM group; ^##p < 0.01 and ^###p < 0.001 compared with the NTG group. c, f Immunofluorescence staining of CGRP (c) and c-fos (f) in the TNC area. Scale bars: 100 μm for CGRP, 20 μm for c-fos. d, e Quantification of CGRP immunoreactivity (d) and c-fos-positive cells (e) revealed consistent changes with the western blot analysis. n = 4 per group; 6 sections from each mouse were analyzed; values are expressed as mean ± SEM; one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test; ***p < 0.001 compared with the SHAM group; ^###p < 0.001 compared with the NTG group