ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This parallel, single-center, pragmatic, randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of motion style acupuncture treatment (MSAT; a combination of acupuncture and Doin therapy) to reduce pain and improve the functional disability of patients with acute low back pain (aLBP) due to road traffic accidents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-six patients with aLBP admitted to the Haeundae Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine in South Korea due to traffic accidents were treated with integrative Korean medicine (IKM) with additional 3-day MSAT sessions during hospitalization (MSAT group, 48 patients) or without (control group, 48 patients), and followed up for 90 days. RESULTS: The mean numeric rating scale (NRS) scores of low back pain (LBP) of the MSAT and control groups were both 6.7 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.3, 7.1) at baseline. After completing the third round of all applicable treatment sessions (the primary endpoint in this study), the mean NRS scores of the MSAT and control groups were 3.76 (95% CI: 3.54, 3.99) and 5.32 (95% CI: 5.09, 5.55), respectively. The difference in the mean NRS score between the two groups was 1.56 (95% CI: 1.25, 1.87). CONCLUSION: IKM treatment combined with MSAT can reduce pain and improve the range of motion of patients with aLBP. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial is registered at ClinicalTrial.gov (NCT04956458).
Subject(s)
Acupuncture Therapy , Low Back Pain , Humans , Low Back Pain/therapy , Male , Female , Acupuncture Therapy/methods , Middle Aged , Adult , Republic of Korea , Inpatients , Treatment Outcome , Pain Measurement , Lumbosacral RegionABSTRACT
Despite considerable evidence for a critical role of neuroligin-1 in the specification of excitatory synapses, the cellular mechanisms and physiological roles of neuroligin-1 in mature neural circuits are poorly understood. In mutant mice deficient in neuroligin-1, or adult rats in which neuroligin-1 was depleted, we have found that neuroligin-1 stabilizes the NMDA receptors residing in the postsynaptic membrane of amygdala principal neurons, which allows for a normal range of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission. We observed marked decreases in NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic currents at afferent inputs to the amygdala of neuroligin-1 knockout mice. However, the knockout mice exhibited a significant impairment in spike-timing-dependent long-term potentiation (STD-LTP) at the thalamic but not the cortical inputs to the amygdala. Subsequent electrophysiological analyses indicated that STD-LTP in the cortical pathway is largely independent of activation of postsynaptic NMDA receptors. These findings suggest that neuroligin-1 can modulate, in a pathway-specific manner, synaptic plasticity in the amygdala circuits of adult animals, likely by regulating the abundance of postsynaptic NMDA receptors.
Subject(s)
Amygdala/physiology , Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal/physiology , Neuronal Plasticity/physiology , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/physiology , Synaptic Transmission/physiology , 6-Cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione/pharmacology , Action Potentials , Amygdala/metabolism , Animals , Blotting, Western , Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal/genetics , Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal/metabolism , Cell Line , Dizocilpine Maleate/pharmacology , Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists/pharmacology , Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials , Humans , Long-Term Potentiation , Mice , Mice, Knockout , RNA Interference , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/antagonists & inhibitors , Thalamus/metabolism , Thalamus/physiologyABSTRACT
We observed the changes of body temperature and the cytokine expressions in the hypothalamus of rats to investigate the effect and mechanism of antipyretic action of acupuncture. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, i.p., 2.5 mg/kg) was injected into rats and manual acupuncture was performed on Shaofu (HT8), Zutonggu (BL66) or Xingjian (LR2), respectively. The results showed that fever induced by LPS-injection was recovered significantly by acupuncture on each acupoint. LPS increased hypothalamic mRNA levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-1 beta which, on the contrary, were also reduced to normal levels by acupuncture stimulation on BL66. These results suggest that the acupuncture stimulation may be effective for reducing elevated body temperature induced by bacterial inflammation, and part of its action may be mediated through the suppression of hypothalamic production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.