3.2.3 Co-localization of B2 and COX-1 in dorsal root ganglia (DRG)
When the DRG cells were stained with antibodies for both B2 and COX-1, there was a clear co-expression of the two proteins. An example of B2 and COX-1 dual labelling is shown in figure 8A where confocal images have been taken using a B2 spedific antibody (red) and a COX-1 specific antibody (green). The histogram of cell size frequency derived for six ganglia shown in figure 8B shows that 39.2% of DRG neurons express both B2 receptor and COX-1 proteins, with a mean cell area of 955.7 ± 28.1 μm2.
The dual labelling occurred mainly in small neurons (69.9%, <1,000 μm2), some medium sized neurons (23.1%, 1,000-2,000 μm2) and only very few large neurons (7%, >2,000 μm2) dual labelled.