ArticleBMC complementary and alternative medicine2017
Spatiotemporal changes of optical signals in the somatosensory cortex of neuropathic rats after electroacupuncture stimulation.
Article in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture for Migraine Without Aura and Connection-Based Efficacy Prediction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Different Degree Centrality Changes in the Brain after Acupuncture on Contralateral or Ipsilateral Acupoint in Patients with Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Resting-State fMRI Study.Neural plasticity · 2020Trial
- The analgesic effect of acupuncture in neuropathic pain: regulatory mechanisms of DNA methylation in the brain.Pain reports · 2024Review
- Electroacupuncture Induces Bilateral S1 and ACC Epigenetic Regulation of Genes in a Mouse Model of Neuropathic Pain.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Brain nuclei and neural circuits in neuropathic pain and brain modulation mechanisms of acupuncture: a review on animal-based experimental research.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Excitatory neurons in paraventricular hypothalamus contributed to the mechanism underlying acupuncture regulating the swallowing function.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Possible Therapeutic Options for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.Biomedicines · 2021Article
- Astroglial changes in the zona incerta in response to motor cortex stimulation in a rat model of chronic neuropathy.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Comprehensive evaluation of gene expression signatures in response to electroacupuncture stimulation at Zusanli (ST36) acupoint by transcriptomic analysis.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPeripheral nerve injury causes physiological changes in primary afferent neurons. Neuropathic pain associated with peripheral nerve injuries may reflect changes in the excitability of the nervous system, including the spinothalamic tract. Current alternative medical research indicates that acupuncture stimulation has analgesic effects in various pain symptoms. However, activation changes in the somatosensory cortex of the brain by acupuncture stimulation remain poorly understood. The present study was conducted to monitor the changes in cortical excitability, using optical imaging with voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) in neuropathic rats after electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation.
methodsMale Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: control (intact), sham injury, and neuropathic pain rats. Under pentobarbital anesthesia, rats were subjected to nerve injury with tight ligation and incision of the tibial and sural nerves in the left hind paw. For optical imaging, the rats were re-anesthetized with urethane, and followed by craniotomy. The exposed primary somatosensory cortex (S1) was stained with VSD for one hour. Optical signals were recorded from the S1 cortex, before and after EA stimulation on Zusanli (ST36) and Yinlingquan (SP9).
resultsAfter peripheral stimulation, control and sham injury rats did not show significant signal changes in the S1 cortex. However, inflamed and amplified neural activities were observed in the S1 cortex of nerve-injured rats. Furthermore, the optical signals and region of activation in the S1 cortex were reduced substantially after EA stimulation, and recovered in a time-dependent manner. The peak fluorescence intensity was significantly reduced until 90 min after EA stimulation (Pre-EA: 0.25 ± 0.04 and Post-EA 0 min: 0.01 ± 0.01), and maximum activated area was also significantly attenuated until 60 min after EA stimulation (Pre-EA: 37.2 ± 1.79 and Post-EA 0 min: 0.01 ± 0.10).
conclusionOur results indicate that EA stimulation has inhibitory effects on excitatory neuronal signaling in the S1 cortex, caused by noxious stimulation in neuropathic pain. These findings suggest that EA stimulation warrants further study as a potential adjuvant modulation of neuropathic pain.
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