Study on analgesic effect of Shentong Zhuyu Decoction in neuropathic pain rats by network pharmacology and RNA-Seq.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Shentong Zhuyu Decoction (STZYD) is a traditional prescription for promoting the flow of Qi and Blood which is often used in the treatment of low back and leg pain clinicall with unclear mechanism. Neuropathic pain (NP) is caused by disease or injury affecting the somatosensory system. LncRNAs may play a key role in NP by regulating the expression of pain-related genes through binding mRNAs or miRNAs sponge mechanisms. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the effect and potential mechanism of STZYD on neuropathic pain. METHODS: Chronic constriction injury (CCI) rats, a commonly used animal model, were used in this study. The target of STZYD in NP was analyzed by network pharmacology, and the analgesic effect of STZYD in different doses (H-STZYD, M-STZYD, L-STZYD) on CCI rats was evaluated by Mechanical withdrawal thresholds (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL). Meanwhile, RNA-seq assay was used to detect the changed mRNAs and lncRNAs in CCI rats after STZYD intervention. GO analysis, KEGG pathway analysis, and IPA analysis were used to find key target genes and pathways, verified by qPCR and Western Blot. The regulatory effect of lncRNAs on target genes was predicted by co-expression analysis and ceRNA network construction. RESULTS: We found that STZYD can improve hyperalgesia in CCI rats, and H-STZYD has the best analgesic effect. The results of network pharmacological analysis showed that STZYD could play an analgesic role in CCI rats through the MAPK/ERK/c-FOS pathway. By mRNA-seq and lncRNA-seq, we found that STZYD could regulate the expression of Cnr1, Cacng5, Gucy1a3, Kitlg, Npy2r, and Grm8, and inhibited the phosphorylation level of ERK in the spinal cord of CCI rats. A total of 27 lncRNAs were associated with the target genes and 30 lncRNAs, 83 miRNAs and 5 mRNAs participated in the ceRNA network. CONCLUSION: STZYD has the effect of improving hyperalgesia in CCI rats through the MAPK/ERK/c-FOS pathway, which is related to the regulation of lncRNAs to Cnr1 and other key targets.

Research on Current Drive System of Magnetorheological Damper Based on Fuzzy PI Control.

Magnetorheological dampers (MRD) are increasingly used in smart structural damping systems due to their good damping properties. In practical applications, as a nonlinear device, the parameters of the internal excitation coil of the magnetorheological damper will change during operation under the influence of the temperature and external environment, deteriorating the dynamic performance of the output current of the driver and reducing the damping effect of the system. Therefore, the current driver needs to be optimized for this phenomenon in order to ensure accurate current output. In this paper, a mathematical model of the buck circuit combined with the MRD equivalent circuit is established, and after analyzing the model, the parameters of the PI controller are rectified to lay the foundation for the design of the adaptive law. Then, with the help of the fuzzy control method, a fuzzy PI control strategy for MRD current driver is established, which enables the current driving system to adjust the control parameters adaptively when the MRD parameters change and ensure the accurate driving current output. The experimental results demonstrate that the fuzzy PI control strategy has a stronger robustness in the face of parameter changes of the control object compared with the traditional PI control at a system parameter change rate of 40%.

[Mechanism of emodin in relieving neuropathic pain by regulating serum metabolism].

The present study investigated the effect of emodin on the serum metabolite profiles in the chronic constriction injury(CCI) model by non-target metabolomics and explored its analgesic mechanism. Twenty-four Sprague Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into a sham group(S), a CCI group(C), and an emodin group(E). The rats in the emodin group were taken emodin via gavage once a day for fifteen days(50 mg·kg~(-1)) on the first day after the CCI surgery. Mechanical withdrawal threshold(MWT) and thermal withdrawal threshold(TWL) in each group were performed before the CCI surgery and 3,7, 11, and 15 days after surgery. After 15 days, blood samples were collected from the abdominal aorta. The differential metabolites were screened out by non-target metabolomics and analyzed with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) and ingenuity pathway analysis(IPA). From the third day after CCI surgery, the MWT and TWL values were reduced significantly in both CCI group and emodin group, compared with the sham group(P<0.01). At 15 days post-surgery, the MWT and TWL values in emodin group increased significantly compared with the CCI group(P<0.05). As revealed by non-target metabolomics, 72 differential serum metabolites were screened out from the C-S comparison, including 41 up-regulated and 31 down-regulated ones, while 26 differential serum metabolites from E-C comparison, including 10 up-regulated and 16 down-regulated ones. KEGG analysis showed that the differential metabolites in E-C comparison were enriched in the signaling pathways, such as sphingolipid metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and tryptophan metabolism. IPA showed that the differential metabolites were mainly involved in the lipid metabolism-molecular transport-small molecule biochemistry network. In conclusion, emodin can exert an analgesic role via regulating sphingolipid metabolism and arginine biosynthesis.

[Effect of scalp acupuncture on glucose metabolism in brain of patients with depression].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of scalp acupuncture (SA) on the glucose metabolism in different regions of brain in patients with depression by positron emission computed tomography (PET). METHODS: Twelve depressive patients were treated by scalp acupuncture on middle line of vertex (MS5), middle line of forehead (MS1) and bilateral lateral line 1 of forehead (MS2), once a day for six days per week, and received PET detection on different region of brain before and after 6 weeks acupuncture treatment. Semiquantitative analysis was used to compare the average values of radioactive count gotten from various brain regions before and after treatment, which could reflect the condition of glucose metabolism at the brain region detected. RESULTS: SA could increase the glucose metabolism at bilateral frontal lobes, bilateral parietal lobes, right occipital lobe, right caudate nucleus, right cingulated gyrus and left cerebellum and decrease that at right temporal lobe and bilateral thalamus. CONCLUSION: SA on MS5, MS1 and MS2 in depressive patients could influence the glucose metabolism in various brain regions. It primarily illustrated that the mechanism of SA in treating depression is related with its regulation on cortex-limbic circuitry dysfunction and increase the glucose metabolism in various brain regions.

[Combination of Fu needling with electric acupuncture for tennis elbow].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of Fu needling combined with electric acupuncture in treating tennis elbow. METHOD: One hundred patients with tennis elbow were divided into 3 groups randomly to receive the treatment with Fu needling (n=30), treatment with electric acupuncture (n=30), and treatment with the combination of the above 2 methods (n=40). The effects were observed 3 weeks after the treatment. RESULTS: All three therapies had good effects, but the combined therapy showed the best effect on tennis elbow. CONCLUSION: Fu needling combined with electric acupuncture may produce a higher cur rate of tennis elbow than either of the therapy used alone.

Treatment of stroke with "five-center needling": clinical observation of 78 cases.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of "five center needling" in the management of stroke. METHOD: Seventy-eight patients suffering stroke were divided into 2 groups to receive either routine acupuncture (control group, n=38) treatment or "five-center needing" therapy besides the routine treatment (treatment group, n=40). The curative effect between the 2 groups was compared after 30 days treatment. RESULT: No significant differences were noted between the 2 groups in terms of the curative effect in general (P>0.05). But "five-center needling" showed better effect in treating the syndromes of wind-fire stirring up the orifices and phlegm stagnation leading to mental disorder, and was more effective in the management of hemorrhagic stroke than in ischemic stroke, and in treating the left-side cerebral injuries than in treating those on right side (P<0.05).