Downregulation of the spinal NMDA receptor NR2B subunit during electro-acupuncture relief of chronic visceral hyperalgesia

The involvement of spinal NR2B, a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit, in the therapeutic effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on chronic visceral hyperalgesia was investigated. Chronic visceral hyperalgesia was induced using an irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) model in rats. Graded colorectal...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of physiological sciences 2017-01, Vol.67 (1), p.197-206
Main Authors: Liu, Hongping, Zhang, Yuhua, Qi, Debo, Li, Weimin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acupuncture
Analysis
Animals
Aspartate
Dorsal horn
Down-Regulation
Electroacupuncture
Glutamic acid receptors (ionotropic)
Hyperalgesia
Hyperalgesia - genetics
Hyperalgesia - metabolism
Hyperalgesia - therapy
Intestine
Irritable bowel syndrome
Limbs
Male
Methyl aspartate
N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid receptors
Neck
Needles
Nuclei
Original Paper
Pain perception
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - genetics
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - metabolism
Rodents
Visceral Pain - genetics
Visceral Pain - metabolism
Visceral Pain - therapy
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:The involvement of spinal NR2B, a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit, in the therapeutic effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on chronic visceral hyperalgesia was investigated. Chronic visceral hyperalgesia was induced using an irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) model in rats. Graded colorectal distention (CRD) stimuli at strengths of 20, 40, 60 and 80 mmHg were applied, and behavioral tests were performed to measure the abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) in response to the CRD stimuli and assess the severity of the visceral hyperalgesia. Rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal intact (control) group, IBS model (model) group, EA-treated IBS rats (EA) group and sham EA-treated IBS rats (sham EA) group. For the EA treatment, electric stimuli were applied through needles inserted into two acupoints [Zu-san-li (ST-36) and Shang-ju-xu (ST-37)] in both hind limbs, while the sham EA treatment consisted of only the insertion of needles into these same acupoints without an application of electric stimuli. Our results showed that AWR scores of the model group responding to CRD stimuli of 20, 40, 60 and 80 mmHg were significantly increased. These increased scores subsequently decreased following EA treatment (P 
ISSN:1880-6546
1880-6562
DOI:10.1007/s12576-016-0456-1