Fig. 7

Effect of diet-induced obesity on neuroplastic changes within the lumbar spinal cord. a Representative images showing transverse sections of the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord used for immunohistochemical analysis of neuroplastic changes associated with chronic pain. Tissues were isolated from mice following 40 weeks of experimental diet. Slides were stained for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA1), and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Yellow boxes indicate the region of interest for high magnification images (second row) for GFAP and IBA-1. (b) The fluorescence intensity was averaged across the region of interest (lamellae 1-4 of the dorsal horn) of the upper (L1-L2) and lower (L3-L6) lumbar spinal cords. Mice fed a high-fat or western diet for 40 weeks showed no significant differences in immunoreactivity for any of the proteins investigated. n = 6–8 animals/group. Individual data points of the same color indicate the same animal. Data are plotted mean ± 95% CI