title: The Role of Hippocampal Estradiol Receptor-αin a Perimenopausal Affective Disorders-Like Rat Model and Attenuating of Anxiety by Electroacupuncture.
abstract: Hormone replacement therapy is the principal treatment for perimenopausal affective disorders which can cause severe side effects. The present study compared the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and estradiol treatment on perimenopausal affective disorders at the behavioral and cellular levels. In this randomized experimentalin vivostudy, adult female rats were divided into intact, ovariectomy, chronic unpredictable stress (CUS), and ovariectomy and CUS combination groups. After week 6, all groups were subdivided to three subgroups of control, EA, and estradiol treatment. The behavioral parameters in the open field and the elevated plus maze tests were assessed before and after treatments. Alterations of serum steroid hormones and changes of estradiol receptor-α(ER-α) immunofluorescence neurons in the hippocampus sections were evaluated. EA treatment caused more antianxiety effects than estradiol treatment in CUS group (P< 0.05). Notably, estradiol and EA treatments had better significant behavioral effects when the models were not estrogen-deficient. Importantly, within each group, compared to the control group, the numbers of ER-α-positive neurons were significantly larger in EA subgroups. Therefore, EA had antianxiety effects on perimenopausal affective disorders caused by CUS but not by estrogen deficiency and upregulation of hippocampus ER-αneurons may contribute to its mechanism of action.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Institutes of Brain Science, Brain Science Collaborative Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; 2008 Clinical Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5303-8913
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Institutes of Brain Science, Brain Science Collaborative Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; 2008 Clinical Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Yongheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Institutes of Brain Science, Brain Science Collaborative Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; 2008 Clinical Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Shiwen
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1477-6064
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Institutes of Brain Science, Brain Science Collaborative Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0222-3035
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tamadon
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Institutes of Brain Science, Brain Science Collaborative Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Shulan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Institutes of Brain Science, Brain Science Collaborative Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7156-6023
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng