ABSTRACT
Objective To study the anti-depressive mechanisms of acupuncture by investigating the effects of acupuncture on depressive behaviors and amino-neurotransmitter in hippocampus in rats treated with chronic mild unpredicted stresses.Methods Thirty adult SD rats were randomly divided into a normal group,a depressive model group and an acupuncture group,with 10 rats in each group.Separated feeding,long-term unpredictable and middle stimulation stress were used for development of depression rat model.At the same time,the third group was treated by acupuncture.Autonomic behavior was measured with Open Field test and concentration of amino-neurotransmitter in hippocampus was measured by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection.Results Compared with the normal group,autonomic activity of the rats and the concentration of GABA were significantly reduced in the model group,while the concentration of Glu was significantly increased(P0.05).Conclusion Acupuncture could reverse the depressive behaviors of rats caused by middle stimulation stress,and its anti-depressive mechanisms is related to the function of regulating the concentration of amino-neurotransmitter in hippocampus.