ABSTRACT
0.05) except for the positive reaction in the smooth muscle cells of the small vascular walls. While in the symptomatic group, significant expression of ?-SMA was observed besides the expression in the smooth muscle cells of the small blood vessels, and the positive fields were mainly located in the cellular plasm. The positive fields were diffusely distributed between the proliferous nerve fibers and collagen tissues most of which showed the streak or linear shapes together with some dot like expression figures. The difference of the expression level among the three groups was significant(F=289.534, P0.05). Correlation analysis indicated that the expression level of ?-SMA was positively correlated with the scale of the pain assessed by means of a 10 point visual analogue scale (VAS)(rs =0.980,P