Effects Of Electro-Acupuncture With 2 Hz And 100 Hz On Immunity And On Concentrations Of Arginine Vasopressin And Cortisol

Acupuncture plays an important role in traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese veterinary medicine. Besides its analgesia properties, acupuncture can cure many diseases by up- or down- regulating immune function through a neuro-endocrine-immunoregulatory network. Numerous neurotransmitters and hormones were synthesized and released from central nervous system by acupuncture, and then they enhanced immune function or lead the sthenic immune responses returned to normality. Nevertheless, mechanisms of the immunomodulation were not completely clear at present.The 50-300 Hz electro-acupuncture (EA) was widely used for curing animal diseases while the 2-20 Hz EA, which was focused primarily before, was effectually used for treating human diseases. The mechanism of high frequency EA needs to be revealed.Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neurotransmitter, produced by some neurons that are mainly distributed in the hypothalamus. Besides its antalgic effect by EA, AVP modulated immunity through hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. Additionally, it could be suppressed by DynA that released by 100 Hz EA. AVP may participate in the immunomodulation by EA.In order to investigate whether low and high frequency EAs have different effects on immunity, and to elucidate parts of their mechanism, 90 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allotted into three groups: control group, 2 Hz EA group and 100 Hz EA group. Bilateral "Zusanli" points were selected to acupuncture in this study. Rats in 2 Hz or 100 Hz group were given 2 Hz or 100 Hz electric stimulation, respectively, with a continuous wave for 30 minutes. The intensity of the simulations was determined to be the minimum voltage to cause moderate muscle contraction. Rats in control group were not dealt with electric stimulation. All the rats were slaughtered by decapitation at 0, 2, 4, 8 and 12 h after acupuncture, the hypothalamus and plasma were collected immediately to analyze the concentrations of AVP in hypothalamus and plasma as well as cortisol in plasma by radioimmunoassay. The immune parameters including spleen lymphocyte proliferation, neutrophil phagocytosis and erythrocyte immunity were measured at 2 h after the acupuncture.Electro-acupuncture with two frequencies reduced (P<0.01) concentrations of AVP in hypothalamus and plasma as well as cortisol in plasma, and enhanced (P<0.01) spleen lymphocyte proliferation and neutrophil phagocytosis. The two frequency EAs had no...