Neuroscience Research Institute & Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100191, China.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:404956. doi: 10.1155/2013/404956. Epub 2013 May 12.
Acupuncture and electroacupuncture (EA) are widely used to treat a variety of diseases including pain. In preclinical research, EA is usually applied by inserting acupuncture needles into the hindlimbs of rats restrained in small tubes or bags. This restrained model of EA not only causes stress-like behaviors but also is limited in stimulating locations and intensities. In 2004, a novel, unrestrained model of EA was introduced. However, these two EA methods have never been directly compared regarding their analgesic effects and other features such as stress. In the present study, we reported similar analgesic effects between restrained and unrestrained EA in rats of acute inflammatory pain induced by intraplantar injection of CFA. In addition, rats receiving unrestrained EA showed less significant stress-like behaviors and tolerated higher current intensity. These advantages suggest that this unrestrained EA method can replace the traditional restrained procedure with similar analgesic effects and allow for more choices of stimulating intensities and locations.
针刺和电针（EA）被广泛用于治疗各种疾病，包括疼痛。在临床前研究中，EA 通常通过将针灸针插入束缚在小管子或袋子中的大鼠的后肢来应用。这种束缚性 EA 模型不仅会引起类似应激的行为，而且在刺激部位和强度上也受到限制。2004 年，引入了一种新的、非束缚性的 EA 模型。然而，这两种 EA 方法在其镇痛效果以及应激等其他特征方面从未进行过直接比较。在本研究中，我们报告了束缚性和非束缚性 EA 在足底注射 CFA 诱导的急性炎症痛大鼠中具有相似的镇痛效果。此外，接受非束缚性 EA 的大鼠表现出不那么明显的类似应激的行为，并且能够耐受更高的电流强度。这些优势表明，这种非束缚性 EA 方法可以替代传统的束缚性程序，具有相似的镇痛效果，并允许更多的刺激强度和部位选择。
