ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2011
Endogenous opiates in the nucleus tractus solitarius mediate electroacupuncture-induced sleep activities in rats.
Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture for insomnia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- Effects of acupuncture at ST-36 (Zusanli) on pain and associated sleep disturbance.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2026Article
- Review of the role of the endogenous opioid and melanocortin systems in the restless legs syndrome.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024Article
- The central regulatory effects of acupuncture in treating primary insomnia: a review.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Probing different paradigms of morphine withdrawal on sleep behavior in male and female C57BL/6J mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Decreased plasma neuropeptides in first-episode schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder: associations with clinical symptoms and cognitive function.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
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- Manipulation of Epileptiform Electrocorticograms (ECoGs) and Sleep in Rats and Mice by Acupuncture.Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2016Article
- Low-frequency electroacupuncture suppresses focal epilepsy and improves epilepsy-induced sleep disruptions.Journal of biomedical science · 2015Article
- Proposed toxic and hypoxic impairment of a brainstem locus in autism.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2013Article
- Amygdala opioid receptors mediate the electroacupuncture-induced deterioration of sleep disruptions in epilepsy rats.Journal of biomedical science · 2013Article
- Activation of amygdala opioid receptors by electroacupuncture of Feng-Chi (GB20) acupoints exacerbates focal epilepsy.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2013Article
- The mechanism of effective electroacupuncture on T cell response in rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.PloS one · 2013Article
- Kappa-opioid receptors in the caudal nucleus tractus solitarius mediate 100 hz electroacupuncture-induced sleep activities in rats.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2012Article
- Autonomic activation in insomnia: the case for acupuncture.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2011Review
- Involvement of Interleukin-10 in the Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Sanyinjiao (SP6) Acupuncture in a Mouse Model of Peritonitis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Electroacupuncture (EA) possesses various therapeutic effects, including alleviation of pain, reduction of inflammation and improvement of sleep disturbance. The mechanisms of EA on sleep improvement, however, remain to be determined. It has been stated in ancient Chinese literature that the Anmian (EX17) acupoint is one of the trigger points that alleviates insomnia. We previously demonstrated that EA stimulation of Anmian acupoints in rats during the dark period enhances non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, which involves the induction of cholinergic activity in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS). In addition to cholinergic activation of the NTS, activation of the endogenous opioidergic system may also be a mechanism by which acupuncture affects sleep. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the involvement of the NTS opioidergic system in EA-induced alterations in sleep. Our present results indicate that EA of Anmian acupoints increased NREM sleep, but not rapid eye movement sleep, during the dark period in rats. This enhancement in NREM sleep was dose-dependently blocked by microinjection of opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone, and the μ-opioid receptor antagonist, naloxonazine, into the NTS; administrations of δ-receptor antagonist, natrindole, and the κ-receptor antagonist, nor-binaltrophimine, however, did not affect EA-induced alterations in sleep. Furthermore, β-endorphin was significantly increased in both the brainstem and hippocampus after the EA stimuli, an effect blocked by administration of the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine into the NTS. Our findings suggest that mechanisms of EA-induced NREM sleep enhancement may be mediated, in part, by cholinergic activation, stimulation of the opiodergic neurons to increase the concentrations of β-endorphin and the involvement of the μ-opioid receptors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.