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Depressive disorder seriously affects people's physical and mental health.Acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for depression,yet,its mechanism is unclear.Therefore,acupuncture's action mechanism in intervening depression was summarized from several perspectives,including morphology and ultrastructure of neurons in depression-related brain areas,function and structure of glial cells,brain functional and structural connectivity,and neuroelectrophysiology.It's discovered that acupuncture can repair the morphological and ultrastructural damage of neurons in the hippocampus and prefrontal lobe,mitigate the functional and structural injuries of glial cells in the hippocampus and prefrontal lobe,strengthen functional connectivity and heal structural connection,and promote neuroelectrophysiological activities,which possibly are the principal mechanisms of how acupuncture works in intervening depressive disorder.
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Objective: To explore the abnormal changes in neuroelectric activity in the primary visual cortex of rats deprived of vision in one eye and to investigate the regulatory effect of acupuncture in the sensitive period on the abnormal coding and conduction of electrical signals of rats' optic neurons.Methods: Sixty 14-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a blank group, a model group, an early-stage acupuncture group, a middle-stage acupuncture group, and a late-stage acupuncture group, with 12 rats in each group. Rats in every group except the blank group received right eyelid suturing to create a monocular deprivation model in the sensitive period of visual development (from the day rats open their eyes to the 45th day after their birth). Rats in the three acupuncture groups started to undergo acupuncture respectively on the 3rd, 12th, and 21st days after the model replication was done, with each group receiving nine-day treatment. The activity level of the neuroelectrical signal of the primary visual cortex in each group, including the latency and amplitude of P100 wave, average discharge frequency and amplitude of neurons, the power spectral density (PSD), and interspike interval (ISI), were measured by neuroelectric evaluation technology after the acupuncture treatment was finished. Results: Compared with the blank group, the latency of P100 wave in the visual center of vision-deprived eyes was significantly prolonged, and the amplitude was significantly reduced (P<0.05); the average discharge frequency and amplitude of the neurons in the visual cortex also decreased significantly (P<0.05); PSD decreased and ISI was prolonged significantly (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the abnormal electrical activity of optic neurons in the three acupuncture groups ameliorated, the latency of P100 shortened, and the amplitude of P100 increased (P<0.05), the discharge frequency and amplitude increased significantly (P<0.05), the PSD reduced, and the ISI shortened (P<0.05). In addition, among the three acupuncture groups, the early-stage acupuncture group had the best effect on various indicators. Conclusion: Abnormal electrophysiological activity is significant in the visual center of vision-deprived rats, and acupuncture treatment in the sensitive period of visual development can enhance the bioelectrical activity of visual nerve cells, improve the efficiency of optic nerve conduction, and regulate the inhibition and retardation of visual response caused by visual deprivation.
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Objective: To investigate the electrophysiological mechanism of acupuncture for the visual cortex plasticity during the sensitive period. Methods: Fifty 2-week-old Wistar rats were randomly divided into a blank control group, a model group, an early-stage acupuncture group, a middle-stage acupuncture group and a late-stage acupuncture group, 10 rats in each group. Monocular deprivation amblyopia models were prepared in rats except those in the blank control group by unilateral eyelid suture. After successful modeling, no treatment was applied to the rats in the model group. Rats in each acupuncture group were treated with acupuncture at bilateral Jingming (BL 1), Cuanzhu (BL 2), Fengchi (GB 20) and Guangming (GB 37), started from the 3rd day, 12th day or 21st day after modeling separately, once a day, for a total of 9 d treatment. The neuronal discharge frequency and action potential inter-spike interval (ISI) in the rat visual cortex area 17 of each group were measured by multi-channel microelectrode array nerve signal technique. Results: The discharge number of neurons in the visual cortex of the model group was significantly lower than that in the blank control group (P0.05). The discharge number in the middle-stage acupuncture group was lower than that in the early-stage acupuncture group (P<0.05), and the discharge number of the late-stage acupuncture group was lower than that in the middle-stage acupuncture group (P<0.05). The ISI sequences of the visual cortex neurons were mainly distributed under 0.3 s in the blank control group, under 15 s in the model group, under 1 s in the early-stage acupuncture group, under 4 s in the middle-stage acupuncture group, and under 10 s in the late-stage acupuncture group, divergent in each group. Conclusion: The neuronal coding appears abnormality in the visual cortex area 17 of monocular deprivation rats, indicating that there is a plasticity change in the visual cortex neurons during the sensitive period. Acupuncture has a significant effect on the abnormal neural coding. The therapeutic efficacy is closely related to the stage to start the treatment. Early stage treatment in the sensitive period is the key to achieving the good efficacy.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To preliminarily explore the electrophysiological mechanism of acupuncture on plasticity variability of visual cortex.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty 14-day-old Wistar rats were randomly divided into a blank group, a model group, an early-stage acupuncture group, a middle-stage acupuncture group and a late-stage acupuncture group, 10 rats in each one. Except the blank group, the rats in the remaining groups were treated with eyelid suture to establish the model of monocular deprivation amblyopia. After model establishment, the rats in the blank group and model group were grasped without any intervention everyday. The rats in the acupuncture groups were treated with acupuncture at bilateral "Jingming" (BL 1), "Cuanzhu" (BL 2), "Fengchi" (GB 20) and "Guangming" (GB 37) on the 3rd, 12th and 21st days into model establishment. The needles were retained for 10 min, once a day for totally 9 days. After treatment, the M-NEMEA technology was applied to measure the discharge amplitude and power spectral density of visual cortex area 17 neuron of each group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the blank group, the number of discharged neuron of visual cortex area 17 was reduced, and the amplitude was significantly reduced in the model group (both<0.05). Compared with the model group, the numbers of discharged neuron were increased, and the amplitudes were significantly increased in the early-stage acupuncture group and middle-stage acupuncture group (all<0.05). The neuron discharge amplitude in the early-stage acupuncture group was higher than those in the middle-stage acupuncture group and late-stage acupuncture group (both<0.05); the neuron discharge amplitude in the middle-stage acupuncture group was higher than that in the late-stage acupuncture group (<0.05). In the 120-second time domain of acquisition, the distribution of power spectral density in the blank group was mainly between -105 dB and -100 dB; compared with the blank group, the power spectral density in the model group was increased and distributed between -132 dB and -124 dB; compared with the model group, the power spectral densities in the acupuncture groups was reduced and distributed between -115 dB and -110 dB in the early-stage acupuncture group, -120 dB and -115 dB in the middle-stage acupuncture group and -129 dB and -122 dB in the late-stage acupuncture group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There are abnormal changes of spatiotemporal pattern in visual cortex area 17 of monocular deprivation rats, but acupuncture can regulate abnormal spatiotemporal pattern of neuron. Therefore, there is developmental plasticity of visual cortex neuron in the sensitive period, and early treatment is key to superior efficacy.</p>
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Objective To assess the therapeutic efficacy of trigger points (TrPs) combined with acupoints by acupuncture for subjective tinnitus (ST);To discuss the correlation of TrPs acupuncture inactivation and the releasing of symptom. Methods Sixty patients with ST were randomly divided into trial group and control group, 30 cases in each group. Those in trial group were acupunctured by TrPs combined with acupoints, and those in control group received regular acupuncture treatment. The scores of tinnitus severity assessment were available for effect evaluation after 3 treatment course. The size and tenderness degree of TrPs contraction knots were checked, and TrPs local thermal infrared spectrum was compared by infrared camera. Results The post-treatment tinnitus severity scores had significant difference compared with pre-therapy in each group (P0.05). Conclusion TrPs combined with acupoints by acupuncture for ST patients are better than conventional acupoints in improving clinical symptoms. The deactivation of TrPs is closely related to tinnitus symptoms, therefore, temperature and tenderness of TrPs can be employed to assist in the diagnosis, or evaluated the tinnitus severity and therapeutic efficacy.
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Objective To study the immunologic mechanism of electroacupuncture at Sanyin points on chronic abacterial prostatitis rats. Methods Forty-eight male rats were divided randomly into normal group, model group, drug group and electroacupuncture group, 12 rats in each group. The animal model was made by SC purified prostate protein twice with immunologic adjuvant, and the rats in electroacupuncture group and drug group were treated by electroacupuncture at Sanyin points and feeding Cernilton for 15 days. The changes of prostate weight, index, pathology and contents of IgG, expressions of IL-2 and IL-8 in prostate homogenate were observed. Results Compared with normal group, the prostate weight and index were significantly increased in model group (P<0.05), the content of IgG was significantly increased (P<0.05), cytokine IL-2 and IL-8 were highly expressed (P<0.05, P<0.01), prostate tissue’s morphology and structure were significantly impaired in model group. Compared with model group, the prostate weight and index were significantly decreased in electroacupuncture group after treatment (P<0.05 or P<0.01), pathological changes reduced significantly, the content of IgG decreased significantly (P<0.05), the expressions of cytokine IL-2 and IL-8 were significantly decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01), and the pathological manifestation of chronic inflammation was significantly improved. Conclusion Electroacupuncture at Sanyin points can reduce the secretion of local prostate antibody IgG, regulate the expression of cytokine IL-2 and IL-8, protect the morphology and structure of prostate tissue from damage. Electroacupuncture at Sanyin points can adjust local immunologic function and promote the recovery of prostate.