Fig. 3.
Direct in vivo L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) application of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ASODNs) but not mismatch oligodeoxynucleotides (MISODNs) causes significant down-regulation of α2 subunit protein expression in the treated DRG but not in the contralateral L5 DRG in sham animals. Targeted knockdown of α2 subunit in the right L5 DRG post-ASODN treatment resulted in approximately 50% decrease in its protein expression as compared with untreated (left) L5 DRG (A, left panel) (***P < 0.001) (n = 6 rats per data point). As expected, MISODN treatment had no effect on the α2 subunit protein expression (A, right panel) (n = 6 rats per data point). The protein determination was performed 24 to 48 h postoligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) application (i.e., on postoperating day 3 to 4). (B) Topographically selective α2 subunit protein down-regulation is shown in the representative gels. (C) Representative current traces (left panel) and summary of data from patch clamp experiments (right panel) indicate that as compared with no treatment (n = 7 rats per data point from 17 cells) and MISODN treatment (n = 5 rats per data point from 22 cells), ASODN administration resulted in about a three-fold decrease in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-gated current density in small DRG cells (*P < 0.05) (n = 7 rats per data point from 32 cells). n.s. = nonsignificant.