Abstract
Acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine method
to manage various diseases, including chronic inflammatory pain. We sought to assess
the possible analgesic effects of ACE in comparison with electroacupuncture (EA) and
to study the analgesic mechanisms of ACE in a rat model of inflammatory pain induced
by injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into the hind paw of rats. The von
Frey, radiant heat, and gait analysis tests were performed to evaluate the analgesic
effects of ACE and EA, and Western blot and immunohistochemistry assays were carried
out to determine the molecular mechanisms of ACE. ACE treatments were administered
every 4 days or every week with different acupoints (ipsilateral, contralateral, or
bilateral ST36 and GB30 acupoints). The most effective ACE strategy for attenuating
the nocifensive response induced by CFA injection was performing ACE once a week at
ipsilateral ST36 in combination with GB30. EA treatment every other day at ipsilateral
ST36 and GB30 showed comparable analgesic effects. ACE inhibited the increased activation
of the GluN1 subunit of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor and the subsequent Ca2+-dependent signals (CaMKII, ERK, and CREB) that take place in response to CFA. The
effects of ACE were similar to intrathecal injection of vilazodone (a serotonin 1A
receptor [5-HT1AR] agonist) and were blocked by WAY-100635 (a 5-HT1AR antagonist). In summary, we show that ACE attenuates CFA-induced inflammatory pain
in rats by activating spinal 5-HT1AR and by inhibiting the phosphorylation of GluN1, thus, inhibiting the activation
of Ca2+-dependent signaling cascades.
Perspective
This article presents the novel evidence concerning the spinal 5-HT1AR activation-related molecular signaling of ACE analgesia in a rat model of CFA-induced
inflammatory pain. This work may help clinicians to verify the effectiveness of ACE
analgesia and to better understand the underlying mechanism.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 10, 2018
Accepted:
July 24,
2018
Received in revised form:
July 21,
2018
Received:
May 9,
2018
Footnotes
Supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0403803), the National Natural Science Funds of China (31600852, 81473749, 81771202), and the Development Project of Shanghai Peak Disciplines-Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Supplementary data accompanying this article are available online at www.jpain.org and www.sciencedirect.com.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 by the American Pain Society
