Figure 5

Tactile and heat pain thresholds. A blinded observer performed pain behavioral testing for (A) tactile allodynia and (B) heat hyperalgesia at baseline (prior to STZ induction of diabetes), and 1 and 3 wks after STZ induction. One week after STZ induction there was a significant decrease in the tactile withdrawal threshold for all animals compared with baseline (see results), demonstrating the presence of neuropathic tactile allodynia. By 3 wks after STZ induction, administration of AAV-shRNA-Nav1.3 in diabetic animals resulted in a partial attenuation of diabetic-induced tactile allodynia compared with animals that received control, scrambled vector (shRNA-Sc) (*p < 0.05). There was no effect of STZ-induced diabetes or treatment on heat pain thresholds.