Exploring the effect of Tuina on the dendritic structure of spinal cord dorsal horn in rats with lumbar disc herniation based on NR2B/PSD-95 pathway

• Published in: Journal of acupuncture and tuina science 2023-04, Vol.21 (2), p.129-136
• Main Authors: Zhang, Huanzhen, Wang, Bingqian, Chen, Shuijin, Chen, Lechun, Jiang, Jingjing, Jiang, Yu, Chen, Jincheng, Huang, Hongye, Fang, Jiayu, Zeng, Weiquan, Lin, Zhigang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Analgesics; Basic Study; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Proteins; Spinal cord
• ISSN: 1672-3597; 1993-0399
• DOI: 10.1007/s11726-023-1368-2

Objective To investigate the analgesic mechanism of Tuina (Chinese therapeutic massage) by observing the effect of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit 2B (NR2B)/postsynaptic density-95 ( P SD-95) pathway on the dendritic structure of spinal cord dorsal horn in rats with lumbar disc herniation. Methods Fifty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a blank group, a model group, a Tuina group, a blocker agent group, and a blocker agent + Tuina group. The sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) model was prepared by the sciatic nerve ligation method. From the 4th day after modeling, rats in the Tuina group and the blocker agent + Tuina group were subject to daily Tuina intervention, and those in the blocker agent group and the blocker agent + Tuina group were daily intrathecally injected with NR2B blocker agent (MK-801). The spontaneous pain score was used to observe the pain behavior of all rats. The expression levels of NR2B and downstream PSD-95 were measured by immunohistochemistry, and the dendritic structure changes were observed by Golgi staining for rat spinal cord dorsal horn after 14 d of continuous intervention. Results Compared with the blank group, the degree of rat spontaneous pain after CCI was elevated in both the model and the Tuina groups ( P