title: Chronic morphine-induced neuronal morphological changes in the ventral tegmental area in rats are reversed by electroacupuncture treatment.
abstract: The aim of this study was to observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on chronic morphine-induced neuronal morphological changes in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in rats at electron-microscopic level. Fourteen days of administering escalating doses of morphine induced pathological morphological changes of neurons in the VTA: the rough endoplasmic reticulum swelled, membrane configuration of the nucleus and mitochondria blurred, and structure of myelin sheath changed. Both 2 and 100 Hz EA treatment reversed the morphological alterations induced by chronic morphine administration. The findings provide new evidence that EA may serve as a potential therapy in treating opiate addiction.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, China.
authors.forename: Ning-ning
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Cai-lian
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D048429:Cell Size; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D018870:Endoplasmic Reticulum, Rough / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D009020:Morphine / Q000633:toxicity*; D009021:Morphine Dependence / Q000473:pathology*; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D009020:Morphine