EFFECT OF ACUPUNCTURE ON NEUROTRANSMITTERS IN PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS CENTERS / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

Using histochemical techniques for showing cholinesterase and catecholamines,weinvestigated the changes of these neurotransmitters in the parasympathetic nervouscenters(medial preoptic area and dorsal vagal nucleus)of acupunctured rats by com-parison with the corresponding nucleus and area of the normal rats.A total of 38animals were used,19 in each group were studied.Preliminary results obtained wereas follows(1)It was shown that the number of cases with stronger and medium activityof cholinesterase in parasympathetic nervous centers of acupunctured group was lowerthan that of control group,and it was more obvious in dorsal vagal nucleus(P=0.05)(2)There was no significant change of the NA content within CA fiber's termi-nals of parasympathetic nervous centers in acupunctured group when compared withthose of controls.Based on these results,the relationship between the effects of parasympatheticnervous centers was discussed.Our data suggested that acupuncture might probablyinduce a relative excitation on the activity of parasympathetic nervous centers,but itseems not related with the change of the content of norepinephrine.