Analgesic Neural Circuits Are Activated by Electroacupuncture at Two Sets of Acupoints

To investigate analgesic neural circuits activated by electroacupuncture (EA) at different sets of acupoints in the brain, goats were stimulated by EA at set of Baihui-Santai acupoints or set of Housanli acupoints for 30 min. The pain threshold was measured using the potassium iontophoresis method....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine 2016-01, Vol.2016 (2016), p.1-10
Main Authors: Ding, Ming-Xing, Hu, Kuang, Qiu, Zheng-Ying, Hu, Man-Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acupuncture
Analgesics
Comparative analysis
Experiments
Goats
Immunohistochemistry
Laboratory animals
Medical research
Nervous system
Neural circuitry
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Pain
Pituitary gland
Rodents
Spinal cord
Studies
Vertebrae
Veterinary colleges
Veterinary medicine
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Summary:To investigate analgesic neural circuits activated by electroacupuncture (EA) at different sets of acupoints in the brain, goats were stimulated by EA at set of Baihui-Santai acupoints or set of Housanli acupoints for 30 min. The pain threshold was measured using the potassium iontophoresis method. The levels of c-Fos were determined with Streptavidin-Biotin Complex immunohistochemistry. The results showed pain threshold induced by EA at set of Baihui-Santai acupoints was 44.74 % ± 4.56 % higher than that by EA at set of Housanli acupoints ( 32.64 % ± 5.04 % ). Compared with blank control, EA at two sets of acupoints increased c-Fos expression in the medial septal nucleus (MSN), the arcuate nucleus (ARC), the nucleus amygdala basalis (AB), the lateral habenula nucleus (HL), the ventrolateral periaqueductal grey (vlPAG), the locus coeruleus (LC), the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM), the pituitary gland, and spinal cord dorsal horn (SDH). Compared with EA at set of Housanli points, EA at set of Baihui-Santai points induced increased c-Fos expression in AB but decrease in MSN, the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, HL, and SDH. It suggests that ARC-PAG-NRM/LC-SDH and the hypothalamus-pituitary may be the common activated neural pathways taking part in EA-induced analgesia at the two sets of acupoints.
ISSN:1741-427X
1741-4288
DOI:10.1155/2016/3840202