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Objective:To observe any effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (p-ERK1/2) and phosphorylated cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein (p-CREB) in the spinal dorsal horns of diabetics experiencing neuropathic pain.Methods:Eight rats were randomly selected from 30 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats as the normal group (N), and the remaining twenty-two rats were treated with a single high-dose intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) to establish a neuropathic pain model. The rats modeled successfully were randomly divided into a model group (M, n=8) and an EA group ( n=8). In the EA group, electroacupuncture was applied at the bilateral Hou san li and Kunlun acupoints starting on the 15th day after the STZ injection. The daily sessions lasted 30 minutes for 1 week. Body weight (BW), fasting blood glucose (FBG) and paw withdrawal latency (PWL) were observed before the STZ injection and on the 7th, 14th, and 21st days afterward. The expression of p-ERK1/2 and p-CREB in the dorsal horns of the rats′ spinal cords was detected using western blotting. The count of p-CREB-positive cells in the dorsal horns and their co-localization with neurons was detected using immunofluorescence. Results:In comparison with the N group, the average BW of the M group on the 7th, 14th and 21st days after the STZ injection was significantly lower, while the average FBG was significantly higher. There was no significant difference between the M and N groups in the average PWL on the 7th day after the STZ injection, but it had decreased significantly in the M group on the 14th and 21st days. Compared with the M group, the average PWL of the EA group was significantly longer on the 21st day after the injection. The expression of p-ERK1/2 and p-CREB protein in the spines of the M group was significantly higher than in the N group. p-CREB positive cells were more numerous in the M group compared with the N group, while in the EA group they were fewer. P-CREB was co-located with neurons in the spinal dorsal horn.Conclusion:EA can alleviate neuropathic pain effectively, perhaps by inhibiting the expression of p-ERK1/2 and p-CREB in the dorsal horns of the spinal cord.
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Objective To detect the role of PAR2-PKA/PKCε signaling pathway in periphery neurons in the tran-sition from acute to chronic pain,and investigate the possible approach to prevent both acute and chronic pain simultane-ously. Methods SD rats were randomly divided into control group,sham model group,model group,iPAR2-1 group and iPAR2-2 group. The hyperalgesia priming model was established by injection of carrageenan and PGE2 into the left hind-paw except control and sham model group. PGE2 was administrated at 7 days after carrageenan injection. The PAR2 inhibi-tor was administrated before and after PGE2 injection separately in the iPAR2-1 group and iPAR2-2 group. The paw with-drawal thresholds(PWTs)of rats in each group was detected before and at 5 h,3 d,6 d,7 d 0.5 h,7 d 4 h,7 d 24 h after carrageenan injection. The expression level of PAR2, PKA and PKCε proteins in the dorsal root ganglion(DRG) were detected at 24 h after carrageenan injection. Results The hyperalgesia priming model was successfully generated. When PGE2 was administrated at 7 days after carrageenan injection, the hyperalgesia induced by PGE2 was significantly prolonged. The PWTs of rats in the model group were significantly lower than that of the control and sham model groups(P<0.01),though the PWTs of sham model group had no significant difference with the control on 7 d 24 h after carrageenan injection(P>0.05). The expression level of PAR2 and PKCε in the ipsilateral DRG neurons were significantly increased on 7 d 24 h after carrageenan injection,when compared with the control and sham model groups(P<0.05). PAR2 inhibi-tor prevented the prolonged hyperalgesia induced by PGE2(P<0.05)and decreased the PKCε expression in DRG neurons whenever it was given(P<0.05). However,PAR2 inhibitor did not regulate the acute inflammatory pain of PGE2 and the expression of PKA in DRG neurons(P>0.05). Conclusions Inhibition of the expression of PAR2 can prevent the tran-sition from acute to chronic pain. This effect may be related with the inhibitory effect on the activation of PAR2-PKCε sig-naling pathway in DRG neurons. However,inhibition of PAR2 can not regulate the acute pain. These may because of that the PAR2-PKA signaling pathway does not play a role in acute pain.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the intervention effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on small intestinal motility in the rats of postoperative ileus (POI) at perioperative stage and explore the mechanism on the regulation of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in the treatment of POI.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty heathy male SD rats were randomized into a sham-operation group, a model group, an EA group and a sham-EA group, 15 rats in each one. Except the sham-operation group, POI modeling was done in the rest groups. In the EA group, separately, 48 h, 24 h and 0.5 h before modeling, during modeling and 6 h, 12 h and 24 h after modeling, EA was given bilaterally to "Zusanli" (ST 36), 5 Hz, 1-2 mA, for 30 min. The sham-EA stimulation was given in the sham-EA group at the same time points. The same fixation was the only intervention in the model group. No intervention was applied in the sham-operation group. Five rats were selected randomly from each group 6 h, 12 h and 24 h after modeling for the determination of small intestine motility and they were sacrificed. Afterwards, the small intestinal muscular layer was collected for the determination of c-kit and P2X7 mRNA. In 24 h of modeling, the immunofluorescence test was done for c-kit determination.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In 6 h, 12 h and 24 h of modeling, in the model group, the EA groupand the sham-EA group, the small intestine motility was apparently lower than that in the sham-operation group at the same time points (all<0.01). In 6 h and 12 h of modeling, the small intestine motility in the EA group was not different significantly as compared with that in the model group (both>0.05). In 24 h of modeling, the small intestine motility in the EA group was better than that in the model group and the sham-EA group at the same time points (both<0.05). The difference was not significant between the sham-EA group and the model group (>0.05). In 6 h, 12 h and 24 h of modeling, c-kit mRNA expression of small intestine muscular layer was reduced apparently in the model group (all<0.01) and P2X7 mRNA expression did not change apparently (all>0.05). In 24 h of modeling, as compared with the model group and the sham-EA group, c-kit mRNA expression and positive cell area in the small intestine muscular layer were increased in the EA group (all<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>EA effectively increases the small intestinal motility in POI rats, shortens the recovery time, which is probably closely relevant with the increase of ICC count in small intestinal muscular layer.</p>
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The clinical manifestation and clinical diagnosis and treatment of acupuncture for persistent somatoform pain disorder (PSPD) were observed to explore its etiology. It is found that the causative factor of PSPD is probably relevant with pain memory induced by the negative emotions during the first attack of pain, which is in the category of "depression" in TCM. In clinical diagnosis, the medical history should be explored to discover the potential etiology and determine the diagnosis. In treatment, the root cause should be considered, focusing on mind andregulation and associating with analgesia. It is different from the common treatment for analgesia in other pain disorders. For PSPD, the root cause is considerable, with "mind regulation" in priority. The acupoints relevant with mind on the head[such as Baihui (GV 20) and Sishencong (EX-HN1)], the acupoints for warming and tonifying the primary[such as Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4) and Zusanli (ST 36)] and the auricular points (such as xin (CO), gan (CO), shenmen (TF), neifenmi (CO)) are selected to regulateactivity and calm down the mind. Additionally, the therapy for reliving pain specifically is applied with transcutaneous electric stimulation, 2 Hz/100 Hz, disperse-dense wave at bilateral Zusanli (ST 36) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) to erase pain memory trace. Ultimately, the therapeutic effects are achieved for mind regulation and pain easing.
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Trigerninal neuralgia is a common refractory disease in clinic. Professor FANG Jianqiao has rich experience through diagnosing and treating the disease for many years. In the first diagnosis, professor FANG underlines the position of damaged neuron and syndrome differentiation. He considers acupuncture should be implemented by stages,namely according to whether the patients are in the period of pain attack, different acupuocture prescriptions are made. Acupuncture manipulation and needle-retention time should be adjusted according to the condition of disease. And the appropriate application of electroacupuncture and transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation can strengthen the effect.
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Humans , Acupuncture Points , Acupuncture Therapy , History , China , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Trigeminal Neuralgia , Diagnosis , TherapeuticsABSTRACT
One of the challenge of pediatricians at follow -up for high risk babies is how to identify early in-fants who is at risk of neurodevelopment disability and timely intervention,another is to find infants who will not have a neurodevelopment sequel in order to avoid unnecessary excessive intervention as soon as possible.Accurate diagnosis can be achieved through comprehensive analysis by combined with the basic knowledge,neuroimaging and follow -up of neonatal brain injury.
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Postoperative ileus (POI) is a common abdominal postoperative complication of surgery as well as obstetrics and gynecology. There is a lack of an effective method of modern medicine due to its complex pathophysiological mechanism and the postoperative physiological disorder of patient. Acupuncture has remarkable regulatory effects on gastrointestinal function. Some clinical studies indicated that acupuncture was an effective method to treat POI, which could reduce the duration of POI and the treatment costs of patients in hospital. However, the mechanism and law of acupuncture on treating POI is still unclear. Some clinical studies indicated that the regulatory effect of acupuncture on the gastrointestinal motility was associated with its regulation of the autonomic nerve system and immune system. Based on its effect on regulating autonomic nerve system and immune system, acupuncture would be a potential and safe treatment for POI.
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Objective To explore the relationship between mechanical withdrawal threshold ( MWTs) and local cutaneous blood perfusion ( BP ) in rats with acute inflammation induced by carrageenan.Methods Twenty male Sprague-Dawley ( SD) rats were randomly divided into control and model groups.The acute inflammatory rat model was established by subcutaneously injecting with carrageenan into the left hindpaw.MWTs were measured by Dynamic Plantar Aesthesiometer 37450 before injection ( as base) of carrageenan and at 4 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h after carrageenan injection. The local cutaneous BP was detected by Pericam Perfusion Speckle Imager ( Pericam PSI) at the time after measuring of MWTs.The above two behaviors were compared and the relationship between them was analyzed.Results MWTs of the model group rats were decreased while BP significantly increased than that in the control group ( P<0.01 ) .The MWTs and BP in the model rats showed a negative correlation, especially the correlation index showed significant differences at 4 h and 72 h after carrageenan injection ( P<0.01) .Conclusions Carrageenan-induced acute inflammation in rats causes significant changes in mechanical pain threshold, which has a negative correlation with local cutaneous blood perfusion.
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Objective To observe the distribution features of phosphorylated p 44/42 extracellular signal-regulated kinase(p-ERK) induced by affective pain in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of the rat.Methods Twelve male SD rats were randomly divided into the control group (n=6) and spinal nerve ligation (SNL) group (n=6).The rats of the SNL group were exposed to unilateral L5 spinal nerve ligation (SNL) surgery.The behavior was examined by mechanical pain thresholds (MPTs) and the pain affect was measured using open-field test, elevated zero maze.The expressions of p-ERK in ACC (AP 3.2,2.7,2.2mm from Bregma) were detected with immunofluorescence test .Results In comparison with the control group , the unilateral mechanical pain threshold in the SNL group decreased significantly after operation . The operation also resulted in pronounced anxiety-like behavior .The p-ERK labelled cells in different levels of ACC ( AP 3.2,2.7,2.2mm from Bregma) of SNL rats were (11.89 ±2.57),(32 ±4.67 ) and (17.56 ±2.04 ), respectively, while the control group rats were (12.44 ±2.16),(10 ±0.87 ) and (10.11 ±1.36).These data indicated that compared with the control group, the expressions of p-ERK in ACC(AP 2.7,2.2mm from Bregma) increased significantly in the SNL group after operation(P0.05).Conclusion The results suggest that the neuropathic pain can result in anxiety-like behavior and increased expressions of p-ERK in ACC of the rat.This change may be closely related to the expressions of p-ERK in ACC(AP 2.7,2.2mm from Bregma), but not to the level of ACC(AP 3.2mm from Bregma).
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Objective To investigate the neurodevelopmental outcomes and its risk factors of very low birth weight infant (VLBWI) and extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWI).Methods Data of 85 VLBWI and ELBWI hospitalized in Children's Hospital of Fudan University from October 2005 to November 2009 who had finished infant development test of Baley Scales of Infant Development Ⅱ (Bayley Ⅱ) for neurological development at corrected gestational age between 18 to 42 months were retrospectively reviewed.Twelve infants who accepted treatment in other hospital over 10 days were excluded; the rest 73 infants were divided into normal (neurodevelopment) group or abnormal group according to the definition of neurodevelopmental impairment reported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Neonatal Network.Potential risk factors of neurodevelopmental impairment were analyzed with Logistic stepwise regression.Results The mean gestational age of 73 infants was (30.4±2.3) weeks; among which 13 were smaller than 28 weeks,42 between 28 and 32 weeks,and 18 older than 32 weeks.The mean birth weight was (1208.0±208.5) g; among which 15 (20.6％) ＜1000 g,and 58 (79.4％) were between 1000 g and 1500 g.Four babies (5.5％) were diagnosed as movement retardation,and neurodevelopmental impairment occurred in 16 cases (21.9 ％),psychomotor developmental index ＜70 occurred in 6 cases (8.2％,one case complicating with cerebral palsy); mental developmental index ＜70 occurred in 2 cases (2.7％); both psychomotor developmental index and mental developmental index ＜70 occurred in 7 cases (9.6 ％,two cases complicating with cerebral palsy),and one case (1.4 ％) was cerebral palsy only.Blind in either eyes and hearing impairment requiring deaf-aid were not found in any of the 73 babies.Logistic stepwise regression showed that use of mechanical ventilation was related to neurodevelopmental impairment (OR =6.183,95％ CI:1.664-22.983,P =0.003).Psychomotor developmental index of infants who needed mechanical ventilation (77.5±15.1) was lower than that of infants did not need (87.3±15.1)(t=2.646,P=0.010).Conclusions VLBWI and ELBWI are in high risk of neurodevelopmental impairment,especially those who need mechanical ventilation.
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A total of 20 normal newborns and 8 brain injured newborns were monitored for 2 hours with domestic digital amplitude integrated cerebral function monitor (CFM 3000) and similar imported products LECTROMED CFM 5330 simultaneously. 32 newborns with seizures or suspected seizures were monitored with CFM 3000 and conventional electroencephalogram (EEG) simultaneously. The tracings of amplitude integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG) monitored by CFM 3000 and LECTROMED CFM 5330 are similar to each other. The continuous electrical activity, sleep-wake cycle, the mean of lower or upper bound voltage and duration of broad and narrow band were no significant statistical difference between different machines; The pattern of aEEG tracing of 8 infants with brain injury monitored by CFM 3000 was the same as monitored by the LECTROMED CFM 5330. The detection rate of seizure with CFM 3000 and conventional EEG were no statistically significant difference, and the consistency with Kappa test was: Kappa = 0.552, P = 0.001. The CFM 3000 can reflect the change of cerebral function and identify infants with brain injury reliably.
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Female , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Male , Brain Injuries , Diagnosis , Electroencephalography , Methods , Monitoring, Physiologic , Methods , Reference Standards , Seizures , Diagnosis , Signal Processing, Computer-AssistedABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the value of amplitude-integrated EEG(aEEG)as a quantitative predictor of neurodevelopment outcome of full-term infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE).Method EMBASE,Ovid,PubMed,Cochrane Library,Springer Database,CNKI,CSJD and Wanfang Database were searched from when the database was founded to June 30,2010 for studies about aEEG as a predictor of neurodevelopment outcome in full-term infants with HIE.Characteristic information of each articles was extracted and QUADAS items were used to evaluate the qualities of included studies.Meta-disc software 1.4 was used to perform the metaanalysis.All included studies were combined with weighted quantity; sensitivity,specificity,positive likelihood ratio,negative likelihood ratio and their 95 ％ CI were calculated.Results Eleven studies were eligible for the primary meta-analysis and totally 717 subjects were included.There was an overall sensitivity of 86％(95％ CI:81％-89％),specificity of 90％(95％ CI:86％-93％),positive likelihood ratio of 7.70(95％ CI:5.69-10.43),negative likelihood ratio of 0.17(95％ CI:0.13-0.22)and the area under the curve(AUC)of summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.95 for aEEG tracings to accurately predict poor outcome of HIE in full term neonates.Conclusion aEEG is a valuable bedside tool for predicting long-term neurodevelopment outcome in term infants with HIE.
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The morbidity of transient hypothyroxinemia of prematurity (THOP) was high. There is controversial about thyroid hormone supplementation in THOP. Clinical studies suggest that thyroid hormone supplementation can reduce the incidence of patent ductus arteriosus,but no effect on the mortality and the incidence of respiratory disease.Thyroid hormone supplementation can improve the neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants with gestational age less than 28 weeks with THOP, but no effect on infants with gestational age more than 28 weeks. Future research should focus on the normal range of thyroid hormone according to gestational age in preterm infants,and randomized clinical trial welldesigned stratified according to gestational age to study the long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of thyroid hormone replacement therapy in infants with THOP
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In the present paper,the authors review progresses of researches on the protective effect of acupuncture in resisting acute myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in patients and animals from 1) resisting injury of oxygen-derived free radicals,2) reducing intracellular Ca2+ overload,3) relieving dysfunction of vascular endothelial cells of the myocardium,4) regulating immune functional activity and reducing inflammatory injury,5) reducing cardiocyte apoptosis,6) upregulating the expression of heat shock protein(HSP 70) in the myocardium,and 7) regulating activities of multiple cardiovascular protection factors and intracellular signaling pathways.The abovementioned results are mainly obtained from experimental animal studies.For this reason,the authors hold that the coming researches on acupuncture therapy for cardiovascular disorders should pay more attention to its clinical application,for example,controlled blood-pressure decline induced lower perfusion of the coronary artery,cardiac surgery(percutaneous tranluminal coronary angioplasty,intracardiac operation underdirect vision) etc.
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Objective To observe the effect of transcutanous electrical acupoint stimulation(TEAS)on the exercise ability of rats.Methods After stereotaxis surgery,twenty male adult SD rats wera randomly divided into control group (n=10)and TEAS group(n=10).Two days after surgery.the rats were trained to adapt the treadmill mnning and TEAS(continuous wave,2Hz,5mA)was applied to right Zusanli (ST 36) for 30min,once a day for 6 days.Basic microdialysis samples of extracellular serotonin(5-HT)in rats'dorsal raphe nucleus(DRN)were collected 7 days after surgery.During experiment,rats were running on treadmill (10m/min for 10min,then gradually increased to 24m/min for 1 hour,0% grade).Microdialysis samples were collected continuously until 5 hours after treadmill running.The frequency of brush-stimulation during the running was recorded.Meanwhile,plasma amino acid content was examined 5 hours after exercise.Results The frequencies of brush-stimulation during the treadmill running in control group and TEAS group were 2.04+0.46 and 0.40+0.080 times per minute,respectively (P0.05).However,plasma free-TRP(f-TRP)content,f-TRP/T-TRP ratio and f-TRP/BCAA ratio decreased significantly(P<0.05) in TEAS group as compared with the control group.Extracellular 5-HT levels in DRN in control group soon after exercise were higher than their base levels(P<0.05),and decreased in sequential two hours,and then increased significantly 3 hours and 4 hours after exercise as compared with that 2 hours after exercise(P<0.05).There was a slow decline in the levels of extracellular 5-HT in TEAS group at each time-point after exercise,and significant lower than that in control group within 5 hours after exercise(P<0.05).Conclusion TEAS atZusanli(ST36)can effectively improve exercised ability by reducing peripheral free-TRP level and transporting TRP into the brain,and thus decreasing the synthesis of 5-HT in the brain.
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Objective The aim of this study was designed to investigate the changes of macrophages and activated microglias in white matter damage (WMD) in premature infants and effects of allopurinol. Methods An animal model for WMD was established by bilateral carotid artery occulation (BCAO). Forty-two newborn SD rats (1 day old) were divided randomly into 3 groups: sham surgery group (Sham), BCAO group (BCAO) and allopurinol treated group (ALLO). Pathological changes were studied 7 days and 14 days after BCAO, respectively. Macrophages and activated microglias were detected by immunohistochemistry 7 days and 14 days after BCAO, respectively. Results In BCAO group, Ten cases had mild or severe rarefaction in the corpus callosum area, especially at the cingulum. Pathological changes of white matter were found in 4 cases in internal capsule. Eight cases had subcortex white matter rarefaction. The extent of white matter rarefaction in ALLO group was reduced significantly. Enlargement of bilateral ventricles was found in 6 of 8 cases in BCAO group. Compared to BCAD group [(3.27±0.73)%] the average ventricle size was reduced significantly in ALLO group [(2.44±0.71)%] (P<0.05). ED1 positive cells were found in corpus callosum,hippocampus, and internal capsule in all groups. BCAO group had more ED1 positive cells than the other two groups, and the staining extent in BCAO group was stronger than that in the other two groups. Conclusions BCAO could be used in newborn rats (1 day old) to establish a premature WMD animal model. Macrophages and microglias may play an important role in premature WMD. ALLO may have a potential protective effect on premature SD rat with ischemic WMD.
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Amplitude integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG), also known as cerebral function monitor (CFM), is a non-invasive detection of brain function, having good accuracy in early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of neonatal brain damage. Today, doctors classify amplitude integrated electroencephalogram mainly based on its waveform and amplitude, then they make correct diagnosis of brain function of neonates. However, in some cases, the amplitude and waveform of aEEG are not very clearly shown, the only way is relying on doctors' experience to give out judgement, which has some subjective factors, so doctors can not present accurate diagnostic information. To solve this problem by the use of non-linear dynamics, we calculate and analyze the correlation dimension, Lyapunov exponent and approximate entropy of the aEEG for neonates with convulsions and for normal neonates; then we take these three characters as a three-dimensional vector; finally, the aEEG of neonates with convulsions and the aEEG of normal neonates are distributed into two parts in threedimensional space, thus the correlation dimension, Lyapunov exponent and approximate entropy of the aEEG can reflect the internal information of neonatal brain function. Therefore, it can be used as a new method for studying neonatal aEEG.
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Humans , Infant, Newborn , Brain , Physiology , Electroencephalography , Methods , Neonatal Screening , Methods , Nonlinear Dynamics , Seizures , Diagnosis , Signal Processing, Computer-AssistedABSTRACT
Objective To study the safety and efficacy of selective head cooling (SHC) with mild systemic hypotherrnia in neonates with HIE. Methods Fifty-four term infants with severe neonatal HIE were randomly assigned to the head cooling group (n=27) and control group (n=27). Forty-one infants in 96 h after admission were eligible for the study(SHC group n=21, control group n=20). In SHC group, the naso-pharyngeal temperature was maintained at (34.0±0.2) ℃ and rectal temperature maintained at 34～35 ℃ for 72 h, then rewarmed spontaneously. In control group, normal rectal temperature was maintained. During the period of the study, the infants of two groups were monitored on nasopharyngeal temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate,transcutaneous arterial oxygen saturation and blood pressure. Primary adverse effects inclu-ding severe arrhythmia, venous thrombosis or hemorrhage and severe hypotension were observed. The efficacy indicators including rate of death and severe disability, exercise and cognition development index were as-sessed. Results Severe arrhythmia, hypotension and renal failure were not found in both groups. Follow-up was conducted until postnatal 18 months and was not available in 6 babies (3 in SHC group and 3 in control group respectively). Death and severe disability occurred in 4 of 18 infants (22.2%)in SHC group and in 9 of 17 infants(52.9% ) in the control group respectively (P<0.05). Conclusion SHC for 72 h with mild systemic hypothermia in neonates with HIE is safe and effective. The therapy could reduce the risk of disabili-ty and handicap significantly.
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[Objective]To observe the intervention of Electroacupuncture at Point Jianyu(LI15) on Rabbit Model of Scapulohumeral Periarthritis for receiving possible mechanism.[Methods ]Thirty healthy rabbits(male or female) were randomly divided into three groups:scapulohumeral periarthritis model group,EA Jianyu group and Ibuprofen control group.Each group respectively were detected the concentrations of serum PGE2 before model and treatment and after treatment,and then killed them to achieve tendons of shoulder which were detected the concentrations of Hydroxyproline.And achieve tissues around shoulder which were studied by HE to investigate the changes of the histology.[Results]The concentrations of serum PGE2 had no notable difference between EA Jianyu and model group,Ibuprofen control group and model group after treatment.But it was lowered after treatment than before treatment by EA Jianyu.There were no significantly difference among the three groups about concentrations of Hydroxyproline in tendons,but Ibuprofen control group was higher than EA Jianyu group.Tissues of the shoulder were observed that EA Jianyu restrained reaction of inflammation and degenerescence of tissues,and promoted it better.[Conclusions] EA Jianyu has anti-inflammatory effect and cuts back on the degree of degenerescence of tissues on scapulohumeral periarthritis model in rabbit.
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[Objective]The intervention of electroacupuncture (EA) on chronic inflammation and cyclooxygenase-1/-2 mRNA expressions in rats with II collagen-induced arthritis was observed in vivo, so as to discuss the effect of EA on chronic inflammation and its pivotal mechanism. [Method]Wistar rats immunized intradermally with bovine type II collagen, were served as the animal models of chronic inflammation. EA stimulation, begun on day 11 after the injection, was applied at the acupoint equivalent to ST36 for continuous 10 times. Indomethacin and refecoxib were used respectively as the control treatments of NSAID inhibitor and COX-2 selective inhibitor. The arthritic index, swelling volume of paw and concentrations of prostaglandin E_2 (PGE_2) of local tissue were investigated. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of EA on the levels of COX-1 mRNA and COX-2 mRNA in synovial tissues and gastric mucosa of inflammatory rats by using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). [Results]All collagen-injected rats developed chronic inflammation of paws. EA remarkably reduced the paw swellings of rats on day 16 and day 21 and attenuated the severity of arthritis from the day 14 to day 21. The levels of PGE_2 in the inflammatory tissues of swollen paws were also lowered by EA. EA stimulation obviously down-regulated the expression of COX-2 mRNA in synovial tissue, but did not influence the level of COX-1 mRNA expressed in gastric mucosa. Indomethacin and refecoxib also strongly down-regulated COX-2 expression in synovial tissue. However, either indomethacin or refecoxib strongly affected the COX-1 mRNA expressions in gastric mucosa. [Conclusion] EA has a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect on collagen-induced arthritis, and the pivotal mechanism and also the advantage of its therapeutic result may be due to selective suppression of COX-2 gene activation, without destroying COX-1 activity in stomach.