title: Acupuncture ameliorates inflammatory response in a chronic unpredictable stress rat model of depression.
abstract: Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. Chronic inflammatory response has been viewed as a key factor in depression. Acupuncture in Chinese medicine has been shown to be an effective treatment for depression. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism underlying antidepressant effect of acupuncture. The rats were subjected to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) for 28days to induce depressive-like behaviors. Acupuncture treatment was applied once every other day during the 28-day stress period. The behavioral tests (body weight, sucrose consumption and locomotor activity) were performed. The expressions of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2(PGE2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) were determined in the rat hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. CUMS induced depressive-like behavior in rats, which was alleviated by acupuncture treatment. The increased levels of NO, PGE2, iNOS and COX-2 induced by CUMS, were all significantly decreased in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex by acupuncture. Moreover, acupuncture markedly inhibited the activation of NF-κB in rats. These findings showed that the antidepressant-like effect of acupuncture might be mediated by inhibition of inflammatory mediators via modulation of NF-κB in the brain regions.
authors.affiliation: College of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tui Na, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: College of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tui Na, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Run-Hui
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Beijing Feng-Tai Pu-Huangyu Community Health Center, Beijing 100075, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Tangshan Feng-Run Hospital of TCM, Tangshan 064000, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: College of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tui Na, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: tuyab@263.net.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: guojy@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jian-You
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000818:Animals; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000494:pharmacology; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000494:pharmacology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II / Q000378:metabolism; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D011897:Random Allocation; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy; D035501:Uncertainty
chemical_list: D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D016328:NF-kappa B; D005473:Fluoxetine; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; C496318:Nos2 protein, rat; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C489691:Ptgs2 protein, rat
keywords: Acupuncture; Chronic unpredictable stress; Depression; Inflammatory response