Duan-Mu Cheng-Lin, Zhang Xiao-Ning, Shi Hong, Su Yang-Shuai, Wan Hong-Ye, Wang Yi, Qu Zheng-Yang, He Wei, Wang Xiao-Yu, Jing Xiang-Hong
Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Front Neurosci. 2021 Jul 8;15:687173. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.687173. eCollection 2021.
Acupuncture is an effective alternative therapy for pain management. Evidence suggests that acupuncture relieves pain by exciting somatic afferent nerve fibers. However, the mechanism underlying the interaction between neurons in different layers of the spinal dorsal horn induced by electroacupuncture (EA) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the mechanism of EA relieving inflammatory muscle pain, which was associated with activation of the spontaneous firing of low-threshold mechanoreceptor (LTM) neurons and inhibition of wide dynamic range (WDR) neuronal activities in the spinal dorsal horn of rats. Inflammatory muscle pain was induced by injecting complete Freund's adjuvant into the right biceps femoris muscle. EA with intensity of threshold of A fibers (Ta) in Liangqiu (ST34) muscle considerably inhibited the abnormal spontaneous activities of electromyography (EMG) due to muscle inflammation. While EA with intensity of C-fiber threshold (Tc) increased the abnormal activities of EMG. EA with Ta also ameliorated the imbalance of weight-bearing behavior. A microelectrode array with 750-μm depth covering 32 channels was used to record the neuronal activities of WDR and LTM in different layers of the spinal dorsal horn. The spontaneous firing of LTM neurons was enhanced by EA-Ta, while the spontaneous firing of WDR neurons was inhibited. Moreover, EA-Ta led to a significant inverse correlation between changes in the frequency of WDR and LTM neurons ( = -0.64, < 0.05). In conclusion, the results indicated that EA could alleviate inflammatory muscle pain, which was associated with facilitation of the spontaneous firing of LTM neurons and inhibition of WDR neuronal activities. This provides a promising evidence that EA-Ta could be applied to relieve muscular inflammatory pain in clinical practice.
针刺是一种有效的疼痛管理替代疗法。有证据表明,针刺通过刺激躯体传入神经纤维来缓解疼痛。然而,电针(EA)诱导的脊髓背角不同层神经元之间相互作用的潜在机制仍不清楚。本研究的目的是探讨电针缓解炎性肌肉疼痛的机制,这与大鼠脊髓背角低阈值机械感受器(LTM)神经元自发放电的激活以及广动力范围(WDR)神经元活动的抑制有关。通过向右侧股二头肌注射完全弗氏佐剂诱导炎性肌肉疼痛。在梁丘(ST34)肌肉处施加A纤维阈值强度(Ta)的电针可显著抑制因肌肉炎症引起的肌电图(EMG)异常自发放电。而施加C纤维阈值强度(Tc)的电针则增加了EMG的异常活动。施加Ta强度的电针还改善了负重行为的失衡。使用深度为750μm、覆盖32个通道的微电极阵列记录脊髓背角不同层WDR和LTM的神经元活动。Ta强度的电针增强了LTM神经元的自发放电,同时抑制了WDR神经元的自发放电。此外,Ta强度的电针导致WDR和LTM神经元放电频率变化之间存在显著的负相关(r = -0.64,P < 0.05)。总之,结果表明电针可缓解炎性肌肉疼痛,这与促进LTM神经元的自发放电和抑制WDR神经元活动有关。这为Ta强度的电针在临床实践中用于缓解肌肉炎性疼痛提供了有前景的证据。