[Effect of Huaisanzhen on central analgesic transmitters in the rat of the nerve root pain caused by protrusion of lumbar intervertebra disc].
OBJECTIVE
To search the mechanism of Huaisanzhen in treating the nerve root pain caused by protrusion of lumbar intervertebra disc.


METHODS
Sixty male SD rats were randomly divided into a normal control group, a sham operation control group, a model control group, an aspirin-DL-lysine control group, a routine body acupuncture group, and a Huaisanzhen treatment group. The aspirin-DL-lysine control group, the routine body acupuncture group and the Huaisanzhen treatment group were treated by aspirin-DL-lysine through intramuscular injection, routine acupuncture and Huaisanzhen therapy, respectively. The pain threshold and the content of brain 5-HT in each group were determined.


RESULTS
The pain threshold significantly increased in the Huaisanzhen treatment group as compared with that in the model control group at the same hour points (P < 0.05). And at the 30 min, the pain threshold in the aspirin-DL-lysine control group and the routine body acupuncture group was significantly higher than that in the model control group, and the Huaisanzhen treatment group was significantly higher than that in the aspirin-DL-lysine control group and the routine body acupuncture group (all P < 0.05). The 5-HT contents at the same time in the Huaisanzhen treatment group were higher than those of the model control group and the aspirin-DL-lysine control group (P < 0.01). The 5-HT content at 30 min in the Huaisanzhen treatment groups was significantly higher than that of the routine body acupuncture group (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The analgesic effect of Huaisanzhen treatment is closely related to increase of 5-HT content in the brain.
Zhou
You-Long
YL
Section of Protrusion of Lumbar Intervertebra Disc, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan College of TCM, Zhengzhou 450008, China. youlong666@yahoo.com.cn
Liu
Yi-Jun
YJ
Fu
Jie-Na
JN
Wei
Wei
W
D015667:Acupuncture Analgesia / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D017288:Pain Threshold; D011843:Radiculopathy / Q000628:therapy*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012701:Serotonin / Q000032:analysis
D012701:Serotonin