Role of opioid receptors in acupuncture induced changes in pituitary-adrenal axis in non-stressed and stressed rats

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of acupuncture analgesia on pituitary-adrenal axis and to identify the role of opioid receptors in mediating these effects in non-stressed and stressed rats. The parameters studied were the ACTH, cortisol and glucose plasma levels. It was found that, in the group of non-stressed rats the acupuncture resulted in a significant increase in plasma ACTH and cortisol levels. Pretreatment of rats with naloxone before acupuncture resulted in nonsignificant difference when compared with rats subjected to acupuncture alone

Time factor in the effect of reperfusion of the ischemic cardiac muscle on the changes in T wave voltage and area, serum creatine phosphokinase and infarct size

The aim of this work was to detect the best time of reperfusion of the ischemic myocardium in rats. Reperfusion started 30 minutes to 180 minutes after induction of ischemia T wave voltage and area SCPK and infarction size [% of left ventricle] were the parameters studied. It was found that although the T wave voltage and area increased significantly after induction of ischemia, yet, they were not indicators of the duration of ischemia SCPK increased significantly in all groups and the infarct size showed no relation to the duration of ischemia Finally, It was clear that myocardial ischemia for the interval between 30 minutes up to 180 minutes cannot be recovered by reperfusion as evidence by persistence of high values of T- wave voltage and area after 30 minutes of reperfusion and the failure of recovery of high SCPK and the infarct size