Electroacupuncture relieves neuropathic pain via upregulation of glutamate transporters in the spinal cord of rats

•Electroacupunture relieves neuropathic pain.•Electroacupunture reverses the nerve-damage-induced downregulation of GLAST and GLT-1 in the spinal cord.•Glutamate transporters inhibitor, l-trans-pyrrolidine-2-4-dicarboxylate, attenuated the EA-induced analgesic effect.•Electroacupuncture relieves neu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2016-05, Vol.620, p.38-42
Main Authors: Zeng, Jie, Cui, Lu-ying, Feng, Yan, Ding, Ming-xing
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acupuncture Analgesia
Animals
Dicarboxylic Acids - pharmacology
Electroacupuncture
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 - genetics
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 - metabolism
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2 - genetics
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2 - metabolism
GLAST
GLT-1
l-trans-Pyrrolidine-2-4-dicarboxylate
Male
Neuralgia - metabolism
Neuralgia - physiopathology
Neuralgia - therapy
Neuropathic pain
Pyrrolidines - pharmacology
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
RNA, Messenger - metabolism
Spinal Cord - metabolism
Up-Regulation
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Summary:•Electroacupunture relieves neuropathic pain.•Electroacupunture reverses the nerve-damage-induced downregulation of GLAST and GLT-1 in the spinal cord.•Glutamate transporters inhibitor, l-trans-pyrrolidine-2-4-dicarboxylate, attenuated the EA-induced analgesic effect.•Electroacupuncture relieves neuropathic pain via upregulation of glutamate transporters in the spinal cord of rats. Glutamate transports (GTs), the only vehicle for removal of glutamate from the extracellular fluid, is reported to be related to chronic pain. To investigate whether the glutamate/aspartate transporter (GLAST) and glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) participate in electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia, the EA effect was observed with paw withdraw threshold in a rat model of spared nerve injury. The expression levels of GLAST and GLT-1 were determined with Western Blot and RT-PCR. The results showed significantly upregulated GLAST and GLT-1, along with the relieved pain behaviors after EA treatment. In addition, intrathecal injection of GTs inhibitor, l-trans-pyrrolidine-2-4-dicarboxylate, attenuated the EA-induced analgesic effect. The experiment demonstrates that EA can increase the GTs of neuropathic pain rats, which might be one of the mechanisms underlying its effectiveness in the neuropathic pain.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2016.03.041