*2.3. Elav-Like Gene Expression in Mouse DRG Neurons Is Decreased in Diabetic and Diabetic Resistant Mice Compared to Control Mice*

The qRT-PCR analysis revealed the decrease of the *Elav*-like gene expression in mouse DRG neurons for all three *Elavl* (i.e., *Elavl2*, *Elavl3,* and *Elavl4*) in diabetic mice and diabetic resistant mice compared to control mice (Figure 4). In the DRG neurons of control mice, we obtained similar levels for *Elavl2, Elavl3,* and *Elavl4* genes (unshown data).

We demonstrated that *Elavl* genes expression is altered in diabetes, the two-way ANOVA analysis being statistical significant for the *Elavl* expression, for the diabetic condition and for their interaction (Table S9). *Elavl* genes were downregulated in the diabetic condition and strongly downregulated in the diabetic resistant condition in comparison with control. To detail, *Elavl2* expression decreased to 0.68 ± 0.05 fold in diabetic group and to 0.56 ± 0.07 fold in the diabetic resistant group compared to the control group. *Elavl3* expression decreased to 0.65 ± 0.01 fold in the diabetic group and to 0.32 ± 0.09 fold in the diabetic resistant group compared to control group. *Elavl4* expression decreased to 0.53 ± 0.07 fold in the diabetic resistant group compared to the control group, while in the diabetic group there was a tendency of expression increase without significance (Table S10).

**Figure 3.** Paw withdrawal latencies (in s) in response to radiant heat (55 ◦C). Initial (L0) and final (Lf) withdrawal latencies were represented as mean ± SD for control, diabetic resistant, and diabetic mice. Statistical significance is indicated \*\*\* *p* < 0.001.

**Figure 4.** Fold change of *Elav*-like gene expression with respect to *Gapdh* expression in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons of control, diabetic resistant, and diabetic mice. Statistical significance is indicated \* *p* < 0.05, \*\* *p* < 0.01.
