Fig. 2. Average values (±SD) of numbers of P-p38–positive cells in lamina I–III of the dorsal horn of ipsilateral L3 and merged L4 + L5 segments taken from rats treated by the skin–muscle incision retraction (SMIR; blue bars ) and sham (red bars ) procedures. Postoperative day (POD) 3 (before pain is increased) (A) POD 11 (at the hyperalgesic maximum) (B ), and POD 35 (when all hyperalgesia has resolved) (C ). SMIR and sham values compared for the same time and segment by one-way ANOVA. ***P < 0.001.