title: Effect of electroacupuncture on rats with chronic constriction injury-induced neuropathic pain.
abstract: We adopt the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model to induce neuropathic pain to Spragrue-Dawley (SD) rats by ligating the right sciatic nerve of using four 4-0 chromic gut sutures and subsequently applying 2 and 15 Hz electroacupuncture (EA), respectively, to the right (ipsilateral) Zusanli (St-36) and Shangjuxu (St-37) acupoints. The results of this study are summarized as follows: (1) the differences in withdrawal latencies for the radiant heat test and total lift leg counts for the cold plate test (4°C) of the control (i.e., non-EA) and sham groups were greater than those of the 2 Hz EA (2EA) and 15 Hz EA (15EA) groups; (2) the von Frey test filament gram counts of the control and sham groups were less than those of the 2EA and 15EA groups on the 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, and 13th day following ligation; and (3) the 2EA and 15EA groups exhibited reduced cerebral transient receptor potential vanilloid type 4 (TRPV4) expressions, although we did not observe a similar effect for cerebral TRPV1 or spinal TRPV4/TRPV1 expressions. These findings show that 2 and 15 Hz EA can reduce CCI-induced neuropathic pain, which indicates that various spinal segmental and gate effects have a crucial function in pain reduction. The relationship between EA and TRPV4/TRPV1 expression requires further study.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan ; Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yuh Der Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Cheng
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9150-0339
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: School of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Nou-Ying
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan ; Acupuncture Research Center, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Biostatistics, College of Management, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tsai-Chung
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsu-Jan
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yuh Der Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan ; Acupuncture Research Center, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan ; Gradutae Institute of Integrated Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Liang
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8187-4716
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hsieh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000379:methods*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013131:Spine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D050916:TRPV Cation Channels / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D050916:TRPV Cation Channels; C493922:Trpv1 protein, rat; C486577:Trpv4 protein, rat