Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion, Tuina and Traumatology, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University Shool of Medicine, Shanghai 200233, China.
Department of Andrology, the Seventh People's Hospital affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200137, China.
J Tradit Chin Med. 2023 Oct;43(5):963-972. doi: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.20230608.001.
To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), also known as chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (CNP), and explore its underlying mechanism.
A CNP rat was established by surgical castration combined with 17-β estradiol injection in male Sprague-Dawley rats for thirty consecutive days. The CNP rats received EA treatment once a day for eight days. Chronic pelvic pain was evaluated by mechanical withdrawal threshold measurement. The histological change was assessed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. The inflammatory cytokines in prostates were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The expressions of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), inhibitors of kappa-B alpha (IκBα), and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) were detected by Western blotting. The nuclear translocation of NF-κB and the location of TLR4 were observed with immunofluorescence staining.
The results showed that EA decreased the prostate index, upregulated the mechanical withdrawal threshold, restored the histomorphology of the prostate, reduced the inflammatory factor levels, inhibited NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation, and downregulated the expression levels of critical proteins involved in the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway in prostates.
Our findings suggested that EA could relieve pelvic pain and attenuate prostatic inflammation in estradiol-induced CNP rats. The underlying mechanism may be related to the inhibition of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.
研究电针对慢性前列腺炎/慢性骨盆疼痛综合征（CP/CPPS），也称为慢性非细菌性前列腺炎（CNP）的抗炎作用，并探讨其潜在机制。
通过手术去势联合 17-β雌二醇注射，连续 30 天建立雄性 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠 CNP 模型。CNP 大鼠每天接受一次电针治疗，共 8 天。通过机械撤足阈值测量评估慢性骨盆疼痛。通过苏木精-伊红染色评估组织学变化。通过酶联免疫吸附试验测定前列腺中的炎症细胞因子。通过 Western blot 检测 toll 样受体 4（TLR4）、髓样分化因子 88（MyD88）、κB 抑制蛋白α（IκBα）和核因子-κB（NF-κB）的表达。通过免疫荧光染色观察 NF-κB 的核转位和 TLR4 的位置。
结果表明，电针降低了前列腺指数，上调了机械撤足阈值，恢复了前列腺的组织形态，降低了炎症因子水平，抑制了 NF-κB p65 的核转位，并下调了前列腺中 TLR4/NF-κB 信号通路关键蛋白的表达水平。
我们的研究结果表明，电针可以缓解雌二醇诱导的 CNP 大鼠的骨盆疼痛并减轻前列腺炎症。其潜在机制可能与抑制 TLR4/NF-κB 信号通路有关。
