Ma Q P, Zhou Y, Han J S
Department of Physiology, Beijing Medical University, People's Republic of China.
Int J Neurosci. 1993 Jun;70(3-4):217-22. doi: 10.3109/00207459309000577.
The mesolimbic dopaminergic system has been implicated in mediating morphine and electroacupuncture analgesia. In the present study, Fos immunoreactivity was used as a marker of neuronal activity to investigate if electroacupuncture could activate the dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain. Electroacupuncture stimulation significantly increased the number of Fos-positive dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), whereas no significant c-fos expression in the dopaminergic neurons was observed in the substantia nigra (SN). These results indicate that the VTA rather than the SN may play a role in mediating electroacupuncture analgesia.
中脑边缘多巴胺能系统被认为参与介导吗啡和电针镇痛。在本研究中，Fos免疫反应性被用作神经元活动的标志物，以研究电针是否能激活中脑的多巴胺能神经元。电针刺激显著增加了腹侧被盖区（VTA）中Fos阳性多巴胺能神经元的数量，而在黑质（SN）的多巴胺能神经元中未观察到明显的c-fos表达。这些结果表明，VTA而非SN可能在介导电针镇痛中发挥作用。
