Involvement of connexin 43 in acupuncture analgesia.
BACKGROUND
Connexin 43 (Cx43) is one of the major components of human keratinocyte gap junctions. To study whether gap junctional intercellular communication participates in the transfer of acupoint signals and acupuncture analgesia, the expression of Cx43 was studied in Zusanli (ST36) acupoints compared with control non-acupoint regions in rats after acupuncture. In addition, Cx43 heterozygous gene knockout mice were used to further explore the relationship between Cx43 and acupuncture analgesia.


METHODS
The expression of Cx43 was detected by immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting, and RT-PCR for the Cx43 protein and mRNA. The influence of the Cx43 gene knockout on acupuncture analgesia was measured by a hot plate and observing the writhing response on Cx43 heterozygous gene knockout mice.


RESULTS
Immunohistochemistry showed abundant Cx43 expression in some cells in the skin and subcutaneous tissue of rat ST36 acupoints. The mRNA and protein levels of Cx43 in acupoints were significantly higher than those in the control points in the non-acupuncture group, and even more so after acupuncture. The hot plate and writhing response experiments showed that partial knockout of the Cx43 gene decreased acupuncture analgesia.


CONCLUSIONS
Cx43 expression and acupuncture analgesia showed a positive correlation.
Huang
Guang-ying
GY
Institute of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China.
Zheng
Cui-hong
CH
Yu
Wei-chang
WC
Tian
Dai-shi
DS
Wang
Wei
W
D015667:Acupuncture Analgesia; D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D018031:Connexin 43 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005838:Genotype; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010146:Pain / Q000378:metabolism; D059408:Pain Management; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D018031:Connexin 43