Fig. 2: miR-203a-3p regulates pain behaviors.

a Injection of antagomir-203a-3p (antagomir-203a) alleviated CCI-ION-induced mechanical allodynia. ***p < 0.001 versus sham + antagomir-NC, ^###p < 0.001 versus CCI-ION + antagomir-NC, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s tests, n = 8 rats per group. b, c Administration of lenti-miR-203a-3p-down (miR-203a-down) alleviated CCI-ION-induced mechanical allodynia in male (b) or female rats (c). ***p < 0.001 versus sham + miR-NC, ^###p < 0.001 versus CCI-ION + miR-NC, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s tests, n = 8 rats per group. d Pretreatment with miR-203a-down attenuated the CCI-ION-induced decrease in mechanical threshold. ***p < 0.001 versus miR-NC + sham, ^###p < 0.001 versus miR-NC + CCI-ION, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s tests, n = 10 rats per group. e Administration of agomir-203a-3p (agomir-203a) in the ARC of intact rats induced mechanical hypersensitivity. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 versus agomir-NC, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s tests, n = 8 rats per group. f Left, fluorescence image of eGFP-expressing ARC neurons 3 days after injection of lenti-hSyn-miR-203a-3p-up (miR-203a-up). Scale bar, 25 μm. Right, qPCR analysis of miR-203a-3p on day 3 after miR-203a-up administration. ***p = 0.0007 versus miR-NC, two-sided Student’s t test. n = 6 rats. g Administration of miR-203a-up in intact rats induced mechanical hypersensitivity. ***p < 0.001 versus miR-NC, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s tests. n = 10 rats per group. h Paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) in the sham- and SNL-operated groups. ***p < 0.001 versus sham, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s test. n = 8 rats per group. i Administration of miR-203a-down alleviated SNL-induced mechanical allodynia. ***p < 0.001 versus sham + miR-NC, ^###p < 0.001 versus SNL + miR-NC, two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s tests, n = 8 rats per group. All data are presented as mean values ± SEM.