Lee Bombi, Shim Insop, Lee Hye-Jung, Yang Young, Hahm Dae-Hyun
Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Neurosci Lett. 2009 Apr 10;453(3):151-6. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2009.01.076. Epub 2009 Feb 4.
Repeated injection of corticosterone (CORT) induces dysregulation in the HPA axis, resulting in depression and anxiety. Many studies have shown that acupuncture, which is widely used for the treatment of stress and mental illness, in East Asian countries, is an effective therapeutic intervention for psychosomatic disorders. We investigated the influence of acupuncture therapy on chronic CORT-induced behavioral responses to the forced swimming test (FST) and elevated plus maze (EPM) and expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the rat brain using immunohistochemistry. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with CORT (40 mg/kg, i.p.) once daily for 19 consecutive days. The dysregulation of HPA axis by external injection of CORT was confirmed by measuring the CORT concentration in plasma and the expression level of CRF in hypothalamus. Acupuncture was performed at the PC6 acupoint for 5 min before CORT injection. Acupuncture significantly reduced depression- and anxiety-like behavior and increased NPY expression in the hypothalamus. These results demonstrated that stimulation of the PC6 acupoint suppresses the symptopathology of the hypoactivated HPA axis in chronic CORT-induced rat model of depression.
反复注射皮质酮（CORT）会导致下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴功能失调，进而引发抑郁和焦虑。许多研究表明，在东亚国家被广泛用于治疗压力和精神疾病的针灸，是一种治疗身心障碍的有效干预措施。我们使用免疫组织化学方法，研究了针刺疗法对慢性CORT诱导的大鼠在强迫游泳试验（FST）和高架十字迷宫（EPM）中的行为反应以及大鼠脑中神经肽Y（NPY）表达的影响。雄性Sprague-Dawley大鼠连续19天每天腹腔注射一次CORT（40mg/kg）。通过测量血浆中CORT浓度和下丘脑促肾上腺皮质激素释放因子（CRF）的表达水平，证实了通过外部注射CORT对HPA轴的失调作用。在注射CORT前，于双侧内关穴（PC6）进行5分钟针刺。针刺显著减少了抑郁样和焦虑样行为，并增加了下丘脑NPY的表达。这些结果表明，在慢性CORT诱导的大鼠抑郁模型中，刺激双侧内关穴可抑制HPA轴功能低下的症状表现。
