Tang Huiling, Qin Siru, Li Wei, Chen Xuyi, Ulloa Luis, Zhu Qiumei, Liu Baohu, Gong Yinan, Zhao Yadan, Wang Songtao, Li Shanshan, Guo Yongming, Xu Zhifang, Guo Yi
Acupuncture Research Center, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China.
Department of Neurosurgery, Characteristic Medical Center of Chinese People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
Front Cell Neurosci. 2021 Jan 13;14:598198. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2020.598198. eCollection 2020.
The induction of a coma by traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a crucial factor for poor clinical prognoses. We report that acupuncture at the hand 12 -Well points (HTWP) improved consciousness and neurologic function in TBI rats. Gene chip analyses showed that HTWP acupuncture mostly activated genes modulating neuronal projections (, and ), protein secretion (, and ), and dopamine (DA) receptor D3 () in the ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG), among which the expression rate of was the most obviously increased. Acupuncture also increased the expression and excitability of DA and P2RX7 neurons, and the DA neurons expressed P2RX7, P2RX3, and TRPV1 in the vPAG. Intracerebroventricular administration of P2RX7, P2RX3, or TRPV1 antagonists blocked acupuncture-induced consciousness, and the subsequent injection of a P2RX7 antagonist into the vPAG nucleus also inhibited this effect. Our findings provide evidence that acupuncture alleviates TBI-induced comas via DA neurons expressing P2RX7 in the vPAG, so as to reveal the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the improvement of TBI clinical outcomes by HTWP acupuncture.
创伤性脑损伤（TBI）所致昏迷是临床预后不良的关键因素。我们报告，针刺手部十二井穴（HTWP）可改善TBI大鼠的意识和神经功能。基因芯片分析显示，HTWP针刺主要激活了腹侧导水管周围灰质（vPAG）中调节神经元投射（、和）、蛋白质分泌（、和）以及多巴胺（DA）受体D3（）的基因，其中的表达率增加最为明显。针刺还增加了DA和P2RX7神经元的表达及兴奋性，且DA神经元在vPAG中表达P2RX7、P2RX3和TRPV1。脑室内注射P2RX7、P2RX3或TRPV1拮抗剂可阻断针刺诱导的意识恢复，随后向vPAG核内注射P2RX7拮抗剂也可抑制这一效应。我们的研究结果证明，针刺通过vPAG中表达P2RX7的DA神经元减轻TBI所致昏迷，从而揭示HTWP针刺改善TBI临床结局的细胞和分子机制。
