*4.3. Mechanical Stimulation Testing (MST)*

Baseline data were obtained 1 day before surgery. Following surgery, rats were tested on post-operative days +5, +12, +18, +26, and +27 (Figure 1). A graded series of five Von Frey hairs (0.015 g, 0.127 g, 0.217 g, 0.745 g, and 2.150 g) (Pressure Aesthesiometer®, Stoelting Co, Chicago, IL, USA) were applied by an experimenter who was blind to animal and treatment groups, within the IoN territory, near the center of the vibrissal pad [25,110–113]. Von Frey hairs were applied in an ascending order of intensity either ipsi- or contralaterally. The scoring system described by Vos [25] was used to evaluate the rats' response to the stimulation (Table 1). For each rat, and at every designated time, a mean score for the five von Frey filaments was determined.


**Table 1.** Response categories with the corresponding score values.
