The proteins in the tissues were visualized using a DMIL LED scanning microscope (Leica Microsystems GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany). cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is secreted by astrocytes and microglia in the central nervous system [1, 2]. It might play an important role in the development and maintenance of hyperalgesia in various pain models [3]. The upregulation of IL-6 in the spinal cord causes mechanical hyperalgesia in rats and is associated with the nociceptive sensory process [4C6]. The dysregulation of IL-6 results in the production and release of several inflammatory mediators that may activate neurocytes and trigger neuropathic pain [3, 7]. The blockade of IL-6 signaling leads to substantial clinical improvement in inflammatory arthritis [8]. Protein kinase C (PKC) is an important family of intracellular signaling enzymes involved in central sensitization and pain transmission [9]. The PKC epsilon (PKCinteracts with STAT3 [12], which targets and activates Amoxicillin trihydrate the IL-6 gene to increase IL-6 production [13, 14]. However, whether the interaction between PKCand STAT3 affects IL-6-mediated neuronCglia activation and hyperalgesia remains unknown. In this study, we sought to explore the interaction between PKCand STAT3 in IL-6-induced hyperalgesia and neuronCglia crosstalk [15, 16] and STAT3 as well as their effects on IL-6 promoter activity and = 130) were acclimated for 1 week under a 12?h light/dark cycle at 22C 2C and 55% 5% relative humidity and received food and water inhibitor peptide, and STAT3 inhibitor APTSTAT3-9R (Apexbio Technology LLC., TX, USA); specific microglia inhibitor minocycline hydrochloride (Mino) and astroglial toxin L-2-aminoadipic acid (LAA; SigmaCAldrich Corp., MO, USA); and rat IL-6 and anti-IL-6 antibodies (PeproTech Inc., NJ, USA and Abcam, Cambridge, UK, respectively). Anti-IL-6 and Mino were diluted with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and saline, respectively; the other agents were dissolved in 1% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The aforementioned chemicals (50?the L5-6 lumbar interspace identified by the tail flick reflex [17] under 1%C3% isoflurane (Baxter, IL, Amoxicillin trihydrate USA) anesthesia delivered at an oxygen flow rate of 1 1?L/min. 2.3. Inflammatory Pain and IL-6-Induced Hyperalgesia Model Freund’s complete adjuvant (FCA; SigmaCAldrich Corp.) consisting of heat-killed (1?mg/mL) in paraffin oil (150?= 6/group): untreated (control na?ve rats), FCA, FCA?+?T-5224 500?= 6/group): untreated (control na?ve rats), FCA, Amoxicillin trihydrate FCA?+?PKCinhibitor peptide 100?inhibitor), FCA?+?APTSTAT3-9R 20?= 6/group): untreated (control na?ve rats), IL-6, IL-6?+?T-5224 500?and STAT3 on IL-6-induced hyperalgesia by randomizing rats to the following groups (= 6/group): untreated (control na?ve rats), IL-6, IL-6?+?PKCinhibitor 100?= 6 each) were tested daily before drug application to determine baseline levels. Briefly, the positive and negative data CRYAA were tabulated as follows: = withdrawal and 0 = no?withdrawal. The 50% response threshold was interpolated using the following formula: 50%g?threshold = (10(+ is the last value (in log units) of the von Frey filament test, is the tabular value for positive/negative responses, and is the mean difference (in log units) between stimuli [18]. The PWMT was defined as the means of six animals before and after chemical injections. Areas under receiver operator characteristic curves (AUC) were calculated to determine the effects of the injected chemicals. 2.6. Western Blot Analysis The rats were euthanized using isoflurane anesthesia after the aforementioned tests. The lumbar segments (L3CL5) of whole spinal cords (= 6/group) were homogenized and centrifuged at 16,000?g and 4C for 15?min. Equal amounts of protein (50?(Abcam) and mouse monoclonal anti-STAT3 (Cell Signaling Technology). The proteins in the tissues were visualized using a DMIL LED scanning microscope (Leica Microsystems GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany). Primary or secondary antibodies were omitted to ensure staining specificity. The data from three to four sections per rat (= 6/group) were analyzed. 2.8. Immunoprecipitation Assays Na?ve rats were euthanized under isoflurane anesthesia. The lumbar segments L3CL5 from whole spinal cords were ultrasonicated in ice-cold RIPA buffer (Beyotime, Shanghai, China). The supernatant after low-speed centrifugation was diluted with lysis buffer and adjusted Amoxicillin trihydrate to 2?mg/mL. The cell suspensions passed through agarose resin served as controls. The sonicates were incubated overnight at 4C with PKCand IgG primary antibody (5?and STAT3 were, respectively, cloned into pEGFP-C1 (Clontech Laboratories Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) and pECMV-3X Flag-N (Biofeng, Beijing, China), then transfected into HEK293 cells. Two phosphorylation sites were mutated using point mutation technology to construct phenylalanine and alanine mutants STAT3Y705F and STAT3Y727A, respectively, which mimic dephosphorylated STAT3. The aspartic acid mutants STAT3Y705D and STAT3 mimic phosphorylated STAT3..