Involvement of ionotropic glutamate receptors in low frequency electroacupuncture analgesia in rats.
The present study was conducted to determine whether blockage of both N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-proprionic acid/kainate (AMPA/KA) receptors influences the induction of low frequency electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia. Although neither intrathecal injection of NMDA antagonist D-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (D-AP-5) or AMPA/KA antagonist 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6-nitro-2,3-dioxo-benzo[f]quinoxaline-7-sulfonami-de (NBQX) disodium alone had an effect on analgesia, spinal application of D-AP-5 and NBQX disodium significantly prevented analgesia induced by 2 Hz EA. The intrathecal injection of the excitatory amino acid NMDA produced analgesia for several minutes after intrathecal injection, as did EA stimulation. These results suggest that ionotropic glutamate receptors may be involved in the induction of 2 Hz EA analgesia.
Choi
Byung-Tae
BT
Department of Anatomy, College of Oriental Medicine, Research Institute of Oriental Medicine, Dong-Eui University, Busan 614-052, Korea. choibt@deu.ac.kr
Lee
Jun-Hyuk
JH
Wan
You
Y
Han
Ji-Sheng
JS
D000698:Analgesia / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000379:methods*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000187:drug effects / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000502:physiology*
D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate