ArticleScientific reports2018
Neuropeptide Initiated Mast Cell Activation by Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation of Acupoint LI4 in Rats.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Electroacupuncture for the treatment of frozen shoulder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation Applied During the Post-Anesthesia Recovery Period in Improving Postoperative Recovery Quality After Gynecological Laparoscopic Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Therapeutics and clinical risk management · 2025Trial
- Efficacy of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation combined with diazepam for acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome: A double-blind randomized sham-controlled trial.The Journal of international medical research · 2020Trial
- Acupuncture promotes muscle cells ATP metabolism in ST36 acupoint local exerting effect by activating TRPV1/CaMKII/AMPK/PGC1α signaling pathway.Chinese medicine · 2025Article
- 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
- Stimulation of microneedles alleviates pathology of Parkinson's disease in mice by regulating the CD4+/CD8+ cells from the periphery to the brain.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Mobilizing endogenous neuroprotection: the mechanism of the protective effect of acupuncture on the brain after stroke.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Modern Imaging Technologies of Mast Cells for Biology and Medicine (Review).Sovremennye tekhnologii v meditsine · 2021Review
- Spatial topological analysis of sympathetic neurovascular characteristic of acupoints in Ren meridian using advanced tissue-clearing and near infrared II imaging.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2021Article
- The role of substance P in acupuncture signal transduction and effects.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) has been consistently used clinically for its ease of operation, non-invasiveness and painlessness, in contrast to the characteristics of inserted needles. However, the mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the local response of TEAS at Hegu acupoint (LI4). Immunohistochemistry was used to measure the expression of tryptase-positive mast cells, neuropeptides of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) in LI4. Mast cells were also labelled with serotonin (5-HT), neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) and toluidine blue. The results showed that cutaneous CGRP and SP immune-positive (CGRP-IP or SP-IP) nerve fibres in LI4 were more highly expressed. There were high degrees of mast cell aggregation and degranulation with release of 5-HT near the CGRP-IP or SP-IP nerve fibres and blood vessels after TEAS. The degranulation of mast cells (MCs) was accompanied by expression of NK-1R after TEAS. Either mast cell membrane stabilizer (Disodium cromoglycate) or NK-1R antagonist (RP 67580) diminished the accumulation and degranulation of MCs induced by TEAS. Taken together, the findings demonstrated that TEAS induced sensory nerve fibres to express CGRP and SP, which then bound to the NK-1R on MCs, after which MCs degranulated and released 5-HT, resulting in TEAS-initiated acupuncture-like signals.
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