Wu Jia-Jia, Lu Ye-Chen, Hua Xu-Yun, Ma Shu-Jie, Shan Chun-Lei, Xu Jian-Guang
School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China; Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Brain Res. 2018 Jul 1;1690:61-73. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.04.009. Epub 2018 Apr 11.
Electroacupuncture (EA) is an alternative therapy for peripheral nerve injury (PNI). The treatment relies on post-therapeutic effect rather than real-time effect. We utilized fMRI to clarify the resting-state alteration caused by sustained effect of EA on peripheral nerve repairing model. Twenty-four rats were divided equally into three groups: normal group, model group and intervention group. Rats of the model and intervention group underwent sciatic nerve transection and direct anastomosis. EA intervention at ST-36 and GB-30 was conducted continuously for 4 months on the intervention group. Behavioral assessments and fMRI were performed 1 month and 4 months after surgery. Intervention group showed significant improvement on the gait parameters max contact mean intensity (MCMI) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) than model group. EA-related sustained effects of amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) could be described as a remolding pattern of somatosensory area and sensorimotor integration regions which presented higher ALFF in the contralateral hemisphere and lower in the ipsilateral hemisphere than model group. Interhemispheric functional connectivity (FC) analysis showed a significantly lower FC after EA therapy between the largest significantly different clusters in bilateral somatosensory cortices than the model group 4 months after surgery(p < 0.05). And the model group presented significantly higher FC than the normal group at both two time-points (p < 0.01). The sustained effect of EA on peripheral nerve repairing rats appeared to induce both regional and extensive neuroplasticity in bilateral hemispheres. We proposed that such EA-related effect was a reverse of maladaptive plasticity caused by PNI.
电针是治疗周围神经损伤（PNI）的一种替代疗法。该治疗依赖于治疗后的效果而非实时效应。我们利用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来阐明电针对外周神经修复模型的持续作用所引起的静息状态改变。将24只大鼠平均分为三组：正常组、模型组和干预组。模型组和干预组的大鼠均进行坐骨神经切断和直接吻合术。对干预组大鼠在足三里（ST-36）和环跳（GB-30）进行连续4个月的电针干预。在手术后1个月和4个月进行行为评估和fMRI检查。干预组在步态参数最大接触平均强度（MCMI）和热缩腿潜伏期（TWL）方面比模型组有显著改善。电针相关的低频振幅波动（ALFF）持续效应可描述为体感区和感觉运动整合区的重塑模式，与模型组相比，对侧半球的ALFF较高，同侧半球较低。半球间功能连接（FC）分析显示，术后4个月，电针治疗后双侧体感皮层最大显著差异簇之间的FC明显低于模型组（p<0.05）。在两个时间点，模型组的FC均显著高于正常组（p<0.01）。电针对外周神经修复大鼠的持续作用似乎在双侧半球诱导了局部和广泛的神经可塑性。我们认为这种电针相关效应是由周围神经损伤引起的适应性不良可塑性的逆转。
