Acupuncture Alters Pro-inflammatory Cytokines in the Plasma of Maternally Separated Rat Pups

• 来源期刊: 中国结合医学杂志（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2017,（12）
• 页码范围: 943-947
• 页数: 5页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1007/s11655-017-2827-8

摘要

Objective:To investigate the potential alleviating effects of acupuncture on maternal separation (MS)-induced changes in plasma pro-inflammatory cytokine levels of rat pups.Methods:On postnatal day 15,rat pups were randomly assigned to 4 groups (n=6 per group) using a random number table:normal,MS,MS with acupuncture stimulation at Shenmen (HT 7) acupoint (MS+HT 7),and MS with acupuncture stimulation at Chengshan (BL 57) acupoint (MS+BL 57) groups.Rat pups in the normal group were housed with their mothers under standard conditions;those in the MS,MS+HT 7 and MS+BL 57 groups were matemally separated and individually maintained.Acupuncture stimulation was performed at HT 7 or BL 57 acupoints once a day for 7 consecutive days.A tail suspension test was performed to measure immobility time of rats and the plasma was collected on postnatal day 21,then levels of corticosterone (CORT),interleukin (IL)-1 β,IL-6 and glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in plasma were measured.Res uirs:Compared with the normal group,the immobility time and the plasma levels of CORT,IL-1 β,IL-6 and GDNF in the MS group were significantly increased (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Compared with the MS group,the immobility time and the plasma levels of CORT,IL-1 β,IL-6 and GDNF were significantly reduced in the MS+HT 7 group (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Moreover,the immobility time and plasma levels of IL-1 β and IL-6 in the MS+HT 7 group were significantly lower than those in the MS+BL 57 group (P＜0.05).Conclusion:Acupuncture stimulation at HT 7 can alleviate the behavioral impairment and changes of the cytokines by MS,indicating that acupuncture can help to relieve MS-induced depression.