Electroacupuncture intervention of visceral hypersensitivity is involved in PAR-2-activation and CGRP-release in the spinal cord

• Published in: Scientific reports 2020-07, Vol.10 (1), p.11188-11188, Article 11188
• Main Authors: Shah, Manoj K., Ding, Yi, Wan, Juan, Janyaro, Habibullah, Tahir, Adnan Hassan, Vodyanoy, Vitaly, Ding, Ming-Xing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/378; 692/308; 692/4020; Acupuncture; Animals; c-Fos protein; Calcitonin gene-related peptide; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide - genetics; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide - metabolism; Distension; Electroacupuncture; Electroacupuncture - methods; Electromyography; Female; Goats; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hypersensitivity; Ileitis; Ileitis - complications; Ileitis - therapy; Ileum; Ileum - drug effects; Ileum - metabolism; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - etiology; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - therapy; Intestine; Male; multidisciplinary; Needles; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - metabolism; Receptor, PAR-2 - genetics; Receptor, PAR-2 - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spinal cord; Spinal Cord - metabolism; Thorax; Trinitrobenzenesulfonic Acid - pharmacology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67702-2

Electroacupuncture (EA) relieves visceral hypersensitivity (VH) with underlying inflammatory bowel diseases. However, the mechanism by which EA treats ileitis-induced VH is not clearly known. To assess the effects of EA on ileitis-induced VH and confirm whether EA attenuates VH through spinal PAR-2 activation and CGRP release, goats received an injection of 2,4,6-trinitro-benzenesulfonic-acid (TNBS) solution into the ileal wall. TNBS-injected goats were allocated into VH, Sham acupuncture (Sham-A) and EA groups, while goats treated with saline instead of TNBS solution were used as the control. Goats in EA group received EA at bilateral Hou-San-Li acupoints for 0.5 h at 7 days and thereafter repeated every 3 days for 6 times. Goats in the Sham-A group were inserted with needles for 0.5 h at the aforementioned acupoints without any hand manipulation and electric stimulation. Visceromotor responses to colorectal distension, an indicator of VH, were recorded by electromyography. The terminal ileum and thoracic spinal cord (T 11 ) were sampled for evaluating ileitis at days 7 and 22, and distribution and expression-levels of PAR-2, CGRP and c-Fos on day 22. TNBS-treated-goats exhibited apparent transmural-ileitis on day 7, microscopically low-grade ileitis on day 22 and VH at days 7–22. Goats of Sham-A, VH or EA group showed higher ( P