The Effect of Electro-Acupuncture Stimulation on Insulin Resistance in Diabetic Rats / 日本東洋医学雑誌

ABSTRACT

To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture stimulation (EAS) on insulin sensitivity in rats, we performed several stimulations on Otsuka Long Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats, during euglycemic clamp. We divided OLETF rats into five groups according to the kind of the stimulation EAS at vagal innervated region of the auricle (AVA), EAS at non-vagal innervated region of the auricle (ANVA), EAS on the back of the body (AB), pinching on the back of the body (PB), and no stimulation on the body (NS). These procedures were also applied on Long Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rats as a control study.<br>Furthermore, we performed long-term stimulation (from six to 24 weeks of age) on OLETF rats to assess the preventive effect of those stimulations on the formation of the insulin resistance. EAS of pulse duration 300ms, 1.5V, 1Hz was applied for 10 or 15minutes. As a result, the glucose infusion rate (GIR) showed significantly higher levels during stimulation of PB group in LETO rats. On the other hand, the GIR of AVA group in LETO rats and PB group in OLETF rats were decreased by stimulation. The GIR in AVA group and AB group after long-term stimulation were significantly higher than those of NS group in OLETF rats. These results suggested that EAS at the auricle and the back is useful for the prevention of the formation of insulin resistance when it's applied before onset of the symptoms in OLETF rats.