Antigen-induced arthritis in rats is associated with increased growth-associated protein 43–positive intraepidermal nerve fibres remote from the joint

Table 3 Numbers of growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43)–positive intraepidermal nerve fibres (IENFs)

	Controls	Acute AIA	Chronic AIA	Average SD
Ipsilateral paw pad skin	9.16 ± 1.47	14.65 ± 5.36	19.48 ± 3.73	5.14
Ipsilateral paw pad skin	Significance of the group difference against the control group:	p = 0.0127	p = 0.0007
Contralateral paw pad skin	9.16 ± 1.47	14.34 ± 3.39	12.95 ± 3.89	4.13
Contralateral paw pad skin	Significance of the group difference against the control group:	p = 0.0159	p = 0.0952
Back skin	6.17 ± 1.62	9.54 ± 2.37	10.10 ± 2.31	2.68
Back skin	Significance of the group difference against the control group:	p = 0.0080	p = 0.0193

Numbers of IENFs per millimetre epidermis that were positive for GAP-43 in the left (ipsilateral) and right (contralateral) paw pad skin and in the lumbar paraspinal back skin are presented as mean ± standard deviation. The average SD is the average standard deviation between counts of the three evaluated sections per animal. Significances of the group differences were assessed using the nonparametric Mann Whitney test

ISSN: 1478-6362