ABSTRACT
Acupuncture has been widely used for treating diseases since the ancient days in China, but the mechanism by which acupuncture exerts such powerful roles is unclear. Epigenetics, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and post-transcriptional regulation of miRNAs, is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not include DNA sequence alterations. Epigenetics has become a new strategy for the basic and clinical research of acupuncture in the last decade. Some investigators have been trying to illustrate the mechanism of acupuncture from an epigenetics perspective, which has shed new lights on the mechanisms and applications of acupuncture. Moreover, the introduction of epigenetics into the regulatory mechanism in acupuncture treatment has provided more objective and scientific support for acupuncture theories and brought new opportunities for the improvement of acupuncture studies. In this paper, we reviewed the literatures that has demonstrated that acupuncture could directly or indirectly affect epigenetics, in order to highlight the progress of acupuncture studies correlated to epigenetic regulations. We do have to disclose that the current evidence in this review is not enough to cover all the complex interactions between multiple epigenetic modifications and their regulations. However, the up-to-date results can help us to better understand acupuncture's clinical applications and laboratory research.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on sympathetic nerve-related substance in myocardial tissue in mice with myocardial ischemia (MI), and to explore its possible mechanism.@*METHODS@#Thirty adult male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into a sham operation group, a model group and an EA group, 10 mice in each one. The model of MI was established in the model group and EA group by ligating the left anterior descending branch of coronary artery. The mice in the sham operation group were not treated with ligating at left anterior descending branch of coronary artery, but the remaining procedure was similar with the model group. The mice in the EA group were treated with EA at "Neiguan" (PC 6) with 2 Hz/100 Hz of frequency and 2 mA of intensity, 20 min per treatment, once a day for totally 5 days. No EA was given for model group and sham operation group. The electrocardiogram was recorded and △ST value was calculated to evaluate the model. TTC staining was applied to evaluate the infarct size. Immunohistochemical (IHC) method was applied to evaluate the positive nerve fiber density in myocardial tissue. Western blot method was applied to test the protein expression levels of neuregulin-1 (NRG-1), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43).@*RESULTS@#The electrocardiogram (lead II) results indicated compared with the sham operation group, the S-T segments in the model group and EA group were increased obviously (both <0.01), indicating the MI model was established successfully. The TTC staining results indicated compared with sham operation group, the infarction size was significantly increased in the model group (<0.01); compared with the model group, the infarction size in the EA group was significantly reduced (<0.01). The IHC results indicated compared with the sham operation group, the positive nerve fiber density in myocardial was increased in the model group (<0.01); compared with the model group, the positive nerve fiber density in myocardial was reduced in the EA group (<0.05). The Western blot results indicated compared with the sham operation group, the expression levels of TH, NRG-1 and GAP-43 were significantly increased in the model group (<0.01); compared with the model group, the expression level of TH and GAP-43 were significantly reduced (<0.01) and that of NRG-1 was increased in the EA group (<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#EA could increase the expression of NRG-1 and reduce the expression of TH and GAP-43 in myocardial tissues in MI mice, which could suppress sympathetic nerve hyperexcitability after infarction to achieve myocardial protection effect.
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Mice , Coronary Artery Disease , Electroacupuncture , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Myocardial Ischemia , MyocardiumABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate anti-depressive effects of acupuncture on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 60 patients with depression were randomly assigned to the control group (30 cases) and the treatment group (30 cases). All patients took one kind of SSRIs. Those in the treatment group were additionally treated by acupuncture. All were treated for 6 weeks. Patients' efficacies were evaluated with Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Eisenberg antidepressant side effects scale (Asberg).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group after 6 weeks of treatment, the cured-markedly effective rate was improved by 33.4% in the treatment group (P < 0.05). The HAMD was lower in the treatment group. The tendency of interaction of sleep disorder factor and anxiety/somatization factor was different between at the end of 1-week treatment and at the end of 6-week treatment in the treatment group (P < 0.05). The SDS score decreased at the end of 6-week treatment in the treatment group. The reduction rate was elevated by 19.23% (P < 0.05). By the end of 6-week treatment, the average score of Asberg decreased by 3.77 score in average in the treatment group, while it decreased by 0.07 score in average in the control group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture could effectively improve anti-depressive effects of SSRIs and reduce their adverse reactions.</p>