ArticlePloS one2018
Mast cells are important regulator of acupoint sensitization via the secretion of tryptase, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and histamine.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluation of the Therapeutic Effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Pain research & management · 2020Pooled it
- Cutaneous TRPV4 Potentiates the Afferent Transmission of Electroacupuncture Stimulation.ACS omega · 2026Article
- Clinical characteristics of acupoint sensitization in patients with essential hypertension: a cross-sectional matched case-control study.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2026Article
- Therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for acute pain in the emergency department.Integrative medicine research · 2026Review
- Fibroblasts as key effectors of acupuncture in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Plasma-derived exosomal miR-144-3p targeting IL-1β is involved in pressure pain threshold regulation at PC6 acupoint in myocardial ischemia rats.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2026Article
- Acupoint Sensitivity in Patients with Primary Insomnia and Its Correlation with Polysomnography and Heart Rate Variability: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nature and science of sleep · 2026Article
- Mast cell degranulation mediates analgesic effects of acupuncture at different stimulation durations in arthritic rats.Integrative medicine research · 2025Article
- Potential role of NSAIDs loaded nano-formulations to treat inflammatory diseases.Inflammopharmacology · 2025Review
- Pediatric tuina treatment for spleen deficiency diarrhea regulated through the skin-brain-gut axis and mast cell degranulation.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2025Article
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- Peripheral mast cells derive the effects of acupuncture in Parkinson's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2024Article
- Visualization of Microcirculation at Acupoints in vivo of Alzheimer's Disease Animal Model with Photoacoustic Microscope: A Pilot Study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reports · 2024Article
- Influence of acupuncture intensity on analgesic effects in AA rat models.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Mobilizing endogenous neuroprotection: the mechanism of the protective effect of acupuncture on the brain after stroke.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- The involvement of transient receptor potential channels in mast cell activation by microbubbles.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- The real-time detection of acupuncture-induced extracellular ATP mobilization in acupoints and exploration of its role in acupuncture analgesia.Purinergic signalling · 2023Article
- Research progress on the immunomodulatory mechanism of acupuncture in tumor immune microenvironment.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mast cells (MCs) play a crucial role in mediating the establishment of networks among the circulatory, nervous and immune system at acupoints. However, the changes which occur in MCs during acupoint sensitization, i.e. the dynamic transformation of an acupoint from a "silenced" to an "activated" status, remain uncharacterized. To investigate the morphological and functional changes of MCs as an aid to understanding the cellular mechanism underlying acupoint sensitization, a rat model of knee osteoarthritis (OA) was induced by an injection of mono-iodoacetate (MIA) on day 0. On day 14, toluidine blue and immunofluorescence staining were used to observe the recruitment and degranulation of MCs and the release of mast cell co-expressed mediators: tryptase, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and histamine (HA) at the acupoints Yanglingquan (GB34), Heding (EX-LE2) and Weizhong (BL40). Results showed that the number of MCs as well as the percentages of degranulated and extensively degranulated MCs at the acupoints GB34 and EX-LE2 in the light (A), mild (B), heavy (C) osteoarthritis groups were larger than those in the normal control (N) and normal saline (NS) groups (p < 0.01). Comparisons among the A, B and C groups suggested that the number and the degranulation extent of the MCs at the acupoints GB34 and EX-LE2 were positively correlated with the severity of the disease. Some MCs in the A, B and C group showed the release of 5-HT, HA, and tryptase in degranulation at the acupoints GB34 and EX-LE2. Such changes in MCs were not observed at the acupoint BL40. In conclusion, this study confirmed that acupoint sensitization is associated with the increase in recruitment and degranulation levels of MCs on a acupoint-specific and disease severity-dependent manner. The release of tryptase, 5-HT, and HA during MC degranulation is likely to be one of the cellular mechanisms occurring during acupoint sensitization.
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