[Effects of electroacupuncture at different frequencies on the nociceptive response and central contents of GABA and glutamic acid in arthritic rats].

It has been demonstrated that electroacupuncture (EA) produces analgesia in acute arthritic animal models, while the differential analgesic effects at different EA parameters remains to be discovered. In the present experiment, the effects of EA at 100 Hz and 15 Hz on bilateral Yanglingpuan acupoints of the arthritic rats was studied. The results showed: 1) 15Hz EA was more effective than 10Hz EA for analgesia; 2) spinal glutamic acid content of the 15-Hz EA group was significantly lower than that of the 100-Hz EA group, and 3) no significant difference in GABA contents between the two groups was found. The results suggest that spinal glutamic acid may be involved in the different analgesic effects of EA at different frequencies in arthritic rats.