[Observation on the central afferent pathway of "Guanyuan" (CV 4) under normal and pathological states and the influence of electroacupuncture].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the afferent pathways of "Guanyuan" (CV 4) under normal and pathological states and to observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on them.


METHODS
Twenty-four female SD rats were randomly divided into normal control (NC), NC + EA, ovariectomy (OVX) and OVX + EA groups, with 6 cases in each. Four weeks after OVX, Pseudorabies Virus (PRV, 10 microl liquid containing 10(8) plaque-forming units) was injected into CV4. Thirty minutes after PRV injection, EA (2 Hz, 2-3 mA) was applied to CV4 for 30 minutes, once daily for 3 days. Six hours after the third EA treatment, all the rats were perfused transcardially with 4% paraformaldehyde under anesthesia, followed by sampling the brain and spinal cord and cutting into sections (35 microm). Immunohistochemical method (rabbit anti-rat beta-galactosidase) was used to display PRV immunoreactive (PRV-IR) positive neurons.


RESULTS
1) After injection of PRV, PRV-IR positive cells widely distributed in the spinal cord (cervical, thoracic and lumbar segments), brain stem (nucleus of solitary tract, cuneate nucleus, gigantocellular reticular nucleus, nucleus of spinal tract of trigeminal nerve, nucleus raphe magnus, locus caeruleus, etc), hypothalamus and cerebral cortex in each group. 2) After OVX, apparently fewer PRV-IR positive cells were found in some nuclei as medial septum nucleus (MSN), arcuate nucleus (ARC), diagonal band nucleus (DBN), paraventricular nucleus (PVN) which have close relation with endocrine activity (P<0.05); and rarely seen in ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and lateral preoptic area (LPO) (P<0.01). But in OVX + EA group, PRV-IR positive cells in above regions or nuclei increased significantly (P<0.05 or P<0.01). No obvious difference was found between NC and NC+ EA groups in the number of PRV-IR positive cells (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Following OVX, PRV-IR positive cells in neuroendocrine-related nuclei of hypothalamus reduced significantly in number; EA of "Guanyuan" (CV 4) can promote the recovery of these neurons in above mentioned nuclei.
Zhang
Feng
F
Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University & Institute of Brain Research, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Feng
Yi
Y
Zhou
Rui
R
Zhang
Yu-Qiu
YQ
Chen
Bo-Ying
BY
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D005260:Female; D011558:Herpesvirus 1, Suid / Q000502:physiology; D010052:Ovariectomy; D011557:Pseudorabies / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology