Choi Yi Jeong, Kim Nam Jun, Zhao Rong Jie, Kim Da Hye, Yang Chae Ha, Kim Hee Young, Gwak Young S, Jang Eun Young, Kim Jae Su, Lee Yun Kyu, Lee Hyun Jong, Lee Sang Nam, Lim Sung Chul, Lee Bong Hyo
Department of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Acupoint, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu 42158, Republic of Korea.
School of Mental Health, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, 161006, China.
Neurosci Lett. 2018 Jan 1;662:65-70. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.10.015. Epub 2017 Oct 10.
Methamphetamine is one of the widely abused drugs. In spite of a number of studies, there is still little successful therapy to suppress the methamphetamine abuse. Acupuncture has shown to attenuate the reinforcing effects of psychostimulant. Based on, the present study investigated if acupuncture could suppress intravenous methamphetamine self-administration behavior. In addition, a possible neuronal mechanism was investigated.
MATERIALS & METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 270-300g were trained to intake food pellet. After catheter implantation, animal was trained to self-administer methamphetamine (0.05mg/kg) intravenously using fixed ratio 1 schedule in daily 2h session during 3 weeks. After training, rats who established baseline (infusion variation less than 20% of the mean for 3 consecutive days) received acupuncture treatment on the next day. Acupuncture was performed at each acupoint manually. In the second experiment, the selective antagonists of GABA or GABA receptor were given before acupuncture to investigate the possible neuronal involvement of GABA receptor pathway in the acupuncture effects. C-Fos expression was examined in the nucleus accumbens to support behavioral data.
Acupuncture at HT7, but not at control acupoint LI5, reduced the self-administration behavior significantly. Also, the effects of acupuncture were blocked by the GABA receptor antagonists. C-Fos expression was shown to be parallel with the behavioral data.
Results of this study have shown that acupuncture at HT7 suppressed methamphetamine self-administration through GABA receptor system, suggesting that acupuncture at HT7 can be a useful therapy for the treatment of methamphetamine abuse.
甲基苯丙胺是广泛滥用的毒品之一。尽管已有多项研究，但仍缺乏有效的治疗方法来抑制甲基苯丙胺的滥用。针刺已被证明可减弱精神兴奋剂的强化作用。基于此，本研究调查针刺是否能抑制静脉注射甲基苯丙胺的自我给药行为。此外，还研究了可能的神经元机制。
体重270 - 300g的雄性Sprague-Dawley大鼠接受食物颗粒摄入训练。植入导管后，在3周内每天2小时的实验时段，使用固定比率1的程序训练动物静脉内自我给药甲基苯丙胺（0.05mg/kg）。训练后，建立基线（连续3天输注变化小于平均值的20%）的大鼠在次日接受针刺治疗。每个穴位采用手动针刺。在第二个实验中，在针刺前给予GABA或GABA受体的选择性拮抗剂，以研究GABA受体途径在针刺效应中可能涉及的神经元。检测伏隔核中的C-Fos表达以支持行为学数据。
针刺HT7穴可显著减少自我给药行为，但针刺对照穴位LI5则无此效果。此外，针刺效应被GABA受体拮抗剂阻断。C-Fos表达与行为学数据呈平行关系。
本研究结果表明，针刺HT7穴通过GABA受体系统抑制甲基苯丙胺的自我给药行为，提示针刺HT7穴可能是治疗甲基苯丙胺滥用的有效疗法。
