Rat LSRA Model and DFO Treatment

A rat LSRA model was established as described previously (Zhu et al., 2016 (link)). LSRA surgery was performed by explosion and avulsion of the right L4–L6 nerve roots in rats anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital sodium. For Sham surgery, the right L4–L6 nerve roots were only exposed but not avulsed. Deferoxamine (DFO, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland) treatment was performed as previously reported (Yao et al., 2019 (link)). For a short period, DFO was dissolved in 0.9% normal saline and intraperitoneally injected into rats 30 min before surgery, and 0.9% NaCl was used as a control.
A total of 48 rats were randomly assigned to the following groups: for the DFO treatment experiment, the Sham group (n = 10), which received Sham surgery; the LSRA group (n = 10), which received LSRA surgery and saline treatment (1 ml/kg); and the LSRA + DFO group (n = 10), which received LSRA surgery and DFO treatment (100 mg/kg). For the RNA sequencing experiment, the Sham group (n = 9) received Sham surgery and the LSRA group (n = 9) received LSRA surgery.