Fig. 2. The guarding scores in rats undergoing hind paw incision and anesthesia were comparable between subgroups defined by the anesthetic used for the 3-h period of anesthesia. In rats receiving an intraplantar injection of complete Freund adjuvant (CFA = inflamed) 2 days before the incision, there was a significant influence of time (P < 0.01, two-way, repeated measures ANOVA) because guarding scores decreased over time as expected, but no influence of anesthetic type (P > 0.05) or an interaction between time and anesthetic type (P > 0.05) (A ). The change in guarding score over time in rats receiving the incision and anesthesia only (uninflamed) was comparable with that with persistent inflammation: there was a significant influence of time (P < 0.01, two-way repeated measures ANOVA) because guarding scores decreased over time as expected, but no influence of anesthetic type (P > 0.05) or an interaction between time and anesthetic type (P > 0.05). Data are plotted as mean ± SEM. Numbers in parentheses are the number of rats in each group (B ).