Effect of arginine vasopressin on acupuncture analgesia in the rat

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been proven to be involved in the process of pain regulation. This communication was designed to investigate the effect of AVP on acupuncture analgesia in the rat model. The results showed that intraventricular injection ( icv) of AVP could enhance acupuncture analgesi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Peptides (New York, N.Y. : 1980) N.Y. : 1980), 2009-02, Vol.30 (2), p.241-247
Main Authors: Yang, Jun, Yang, Yu, Wang, Cheng-Hai, Wang, Gen, Xu, Hongtao, Liu, Wen-Yan, Lin, Bao-Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acupuncture Analgesia
Animals
Arginine vasopressin
Arginine Vasopressin - pharmacology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Endogenous opiate peptide
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Male
Naloxone - pharmacology
Narcotic Antagonists
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Vertebrates: endocrinology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been proven to be involved in the process of pain regulation. This communication was designed to investigate the effect of AVP on acupuncture analgesia in the rat model. The results showed that intraventricular injection ( icv) of AVP could enhance acupuncture analgesia in a dose-dependent manner, whereas icv of anti-AVP serum decreased acupuncture analgesia. However, neither intrathecal ( ith) nor intravenous injection ( iv) of AVP or anti-AVP serum could influence acupuncture analgesia. Electrical acupuncture of “Zusanli” points (St. 36) decreased AVP concentration in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), and increased AVP concentration in the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus (SON), periaqueductial gray (PAG), caudate nucleus (CdN) and raphe magnus nucleus (RMN), but did not change AVP concentration in the pituitary, spinal cord and plasma. The effect of AVP on acupuncture analgesia was partly reversed by pretreatment with naloxone, an opiate receptor antagonist. These data suggested that AVP in the brain played a role in the process of acupuncture analgesia in combination with the endogenous opiate peptide system.
ISSN:0196-9781
1873-5169
DOI:10.1016/j.peptides.2008.10.013