Effect of Pricking Blood Therapy on Behavior and Gene Expression in a Rat Model of Migraine / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of pricking blood therapy on behavior and brainstem c-fos and c-jun gene expression in migraine rats. Methods: A rat model of migraine was made with nitroglycerol. The rats were treated by pricking blood. Rat behavior was observed. Brainstem c-fos and c-jun gene expression was examined by immunohistochemistry. Results: Ear redness improved significantly, the number of head scratchings decreased obviously (P<0.05) and c-fos and c-jun expression was reduced markedly (P<0.01) in the treatment group after pricking blood compared with the model group and the blank group. Conclusion: Pricking blood treatment can improve behavior indices and reduce c-fos and c-jun positive expression in migraine rats.