Lu Hao-Yu, Wu Jia-Jia, Shen Jun, Xing Xiang-Xin, Hua Xu-Yun, Zheng Mou-Xiong, Xiao Lian-Bo, Xu Jian-Guang
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
J Pain Res. 2024 Jul 29;17:2495-2505. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S465983. eCollection 2024.
The chronic pain arising from knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent clinical manifestation. As a traditional Chinese approach, electroacupuncture (EA) has a positive influence in relieving chronic pain from KOA. The study aims to explore functional connectivity (FC) and effective connectivity (EC) alterations induced by EA in anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) rat model of KOA using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
After the establishment of ACLT, rats were randomly divided into the EA group and the sham-EA group. The EA group received EA intervention while the sham-EA group received sham-intervention for 3 weeks. Mechanical pain threshold (MPT) assessment was performed before and after intervention, and fMRI was conducted after intervention.
EA intervention effectively relieved pain in post-ACLT rats. Results of rest-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis revealed that compared with the sham-EA group, the EA group had higher FC between the right raphe and the left auditory cortex, the left caudate_ putamen and the left internal capsule (IC), as well as the right zona incerta (ZI) and the left piriform cortex, but lower FC between the right raphe and the left hippocampus ventral, as well as the right septum and the left septum. Furthermore, Granger causality analysis (GCA) found the altered EC between the right septum and the left septum, as well as the left IC and the right septum.
The results confirmed the effect of EA on analgesia in post- ACLT rats. The alterations of FC and EC, mainly involving basal ganglia and limbic system neural connections, might be one of the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of EA, providing novel information about connectomics plasticity of EA following ACLT.
膝关节骨关节炎（KOA）引起的慢性疼痛是一种常见的临床表现。作为一种中医疗法，电针（EA）对缓解KOA慢性疼痛具有积极作用。本研究旨在利用静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）探讨电针在KOA前交叉韧带横断（ACLT）大鼠模型中诱导的功能连接（FC）和有效连接（EC）变化。
建立ACLT模型后，将大鼠随机分为电针组和假电针组。电针组接受电针干预，假电针组接受假干预，持续3周。在干预前后进行机械性疼痛阈值（MPT）评估，并在干预后进行fMRI检查。
电针干预有效缓解了ACLT后大鼠的疼痛。静息态功能连接（rs-FC）分析结果显示，与假电针组相比，电针组右侧中缝核与左侧听觉皮层、左侧尾状核-壳核与左侧内囊（IC）、右侧未定带（ZI）与左侧梨状皮层之间的FC较高，但右侧中缝核与左侧腹侧海马、右侧隔区与左侧隔区之间的FC较低。此外，格兰杰因果分析（GCA）发现右侧隔区与左侧隔区、左侧IC与右侧隔区之间的EC发生了改变。
结果证实了电针对ACLT后大鼠的镇痛作用。FC和EC的变化，主要涉及基底神经节和边缘系统神经连接，可能是电针作用的神经机制之一，为ACLT后电针的连接组可塑性提供了新的信息。
