Destabilization of the medial meniscus causes profound changes in the NAV1.8 nociceptive innervation of the murine knee joint

Purpose: We aimed to compare the nociceptive innervation of healthy and osteoarthritic mouse knees. Methods: Destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) or sham surgery was performed in the right knee of 10-week old male C57BL/6 NaV1.8-TdTomato mice, which express a bright red fluorescent tomato reporter in all neurons that express the sodium-gated voltage channel, NaV1.8. This channel is expressed by approximately 75% of dorsal root ganglion...