1. Results
The PCR picture shows VEGF expression in spinal cord and WAT, the same was
done with control and diabetic tissue to show VEGF expression.
The graphs show the expression levels of VEGF obtained from qPCR in the lean,
obese, control and diabetic samples in both WAT and spinal cord tissue. Using
prism to analyse the difference in expression showed that there was no
significant differences between the lean and obese samples or the control and
diabetic samples as none of the p values found were <0.05.
The Pathophysiology of Pain with
Obesity in Relation to VEGF
Introduction
Its now known that obesity is
connected with elevated pain
sensitivity although the reason
for this is not fully understood.
Vascular endothelial growth
factor (VEGF) is a powerful
angiogenic factor and it is
known to be expressed in both
white adipose tissue (WAT) and
in the spinal cord.
So far VEGFs role in obesity is
unclear due to conflicting
studies on whether its
expression is up- or down
regulated during obesity and
the same can be said in its role
in diabetes.
VEGF’s role in pain has not
really been looked into but
recently it has been found that
VEGF is a chemo attractor for
the anti-inflammatory
macrophage M2, suggesting a
protective role against pain
associated obesity.
Methods
A number of methods, such as PCR, RNA extraction/isolation, RT-PCR and qPCR
were used to determine the presence and expression of VEGF in lean, obese,
control and diabetic tissue samples.
Conclusion
The results from this project show that VEGF is expressed in spinal cord , WAT
and diabetic tissue but analysis showed no differences in expression for the
obese and diabetic tissues when compared to their lean or control counterparts.
Further studies could be made using larger sample sizes, different model types or
even knockout mice to determine the role of VEGF in pain associated obesity.
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Stephanie Gorman S1021623, Dr Sharron Dolan