The Effect Of Acupuncture On The Expression Of Inflammatory Factors In Hippocampus And MPFC Of Chronic Restraint Stress Anxiety Model Mice

ObjectiveAnxiety disorders,one of the most prevalent mental disorders among the word,are characterized by chronic course,high disability rate,high recurrence,bring a great burden to individuals and society.Though advances have been made in understanding of the pathophysiology of these diseases,unfortunately there’s still no established mechanism can explain the etiology of anxiety,also no mechanistically new anti-anxiety drugs have reached the market in past two decades.Abundant data from clinical investigation and experimental study have shown that traditional Chinese medicine is an effective therapeutic method for anxiety disorders.Traditional Chinese medicine has become an effective therapeutic strategy for anxiety disorders.Acupuncture treatment has the advantage of safety and little side effect,however the mechanism of acupuncture on anti-anxiety effects still need experiment researches.In this study,we focused on the role of the immune system and inflammation on anxiety disorders.Chronic restraint stress(CRS)was used to establish the anxiety model to observe the effects of acupuncture on Nuclear Factor-Kb(NF-κB)and Tumor Necrosis Factor-a(TNF-a)in mice with restraint stress-introduced anxiety like behavior,and to explore the possible mechanism of acupuncture on anxiety disorders.MethodsAccording to random number table,24C57BL/6male mice were randomly divided into a blank group(n=6),a restraint group(n=6),a BAIHUI group(n=6),and a SIGUAN group(n=6).The mice in the restraint group,BAIHUI group,and SIGUAN group were treated with chronic restraint stress(CRS),animals were placed in a well-ventilated tube for 2 hours to introduce anxiety-like behaviors on each of 7 consecutive days.After model establishment,the SIGUAN group were treated with acupuncture at "Hegu"(LI4)and "Taichong"(LR3),once a day for 7 days;the mice in the BAIHUI group were treated with acupuncture at"Baihui"(GV20)and "Yintang"(GV29),once a day for 7 days.Each acupuncture treatment took 10 minutes.The mice of blank group were lightly handled for 3 minutes,then placed in the same experimental room with those restrained groups for 2 hours.After 7-day treatment,the mice were used for behavioral tests by black/white box test and elevated plus maze test.Western blot was used to analyzed the contents of NF-κB and TNF-a in the hippocampus and mPFC.Results1Effect of acupuncture on anxiety-like behavior of RS Mice1.1Black/white box testCompared with the control group,the duration time of the model group in the light box was dramatically decreased(P<0.01),the numbers of shuttle between black and white boxes showed no significant variation.Compared with the model group,the duration time of both the SIGUAN and the BAIHUI group in the white box was markedly increased(P<0.01),and the numbers of shuttle between two boxes were both increased(P<0.05).No difference had showed between these two acupuncture groups(P>0.05).1.2elevated plus maze test,EPMCompared to mice of the control group,the percentage of frequency of entry into the open arms(OE%)of the model group significant decreased(P<0.01),however,the percentage of time spent in the open arms(OT%)of these mice just showed a reduction trend with no significant difference.Compared to the model group,after the 7-day acupuncture treatment,the mice of BAIHUI group showed obviously increase of OE%,and a less frequency of entering open arms.The SIGUAN group only expressed upward trend of both OE%and OT%.No difference of treatment effects had showed between these two acupuncture groups(P>0.05).2Effect of Acupuncture on contents of NF-κB and TNF-a in hippocampus and mPFCCompared with the control group,the contents of NF-κB in hippocampus of the model group showed obviously increase(P<0.05),however the variation of the contents of NF-κB in mPFC didn’t show a significant difference;the contents of TNF-a only showed a reduction trend in both hippocampus and mPFC.Compared with model group,the contents of TNF-a and NF-κB in hippocampus and mPFC showed a decrease trend both in the SIGUAN group and the BAIHUI group.There was no markedly difference between these two acupuncture groups.Conclusions1 Chronic restraint stress(CRS)can introduce anxiety-like behavior of mice of the model group,reduce the duration time in light box and shuttle times between light and dark boxes in Black/white Box test,reduce OE%in EPM test.RS can also increase the contents of NF-κB and TNF-a in hippocampus and mPFC,the most significant variation occurred in the expression of NF-κB in hippocampus.2Acupuncture treatment can reverse the anxiety-like behavior of RS mice,and reduce the contents of NF-κB and TNF-a in hippocampus and mPFC.3 The effects of anti-anxiety show no difference between ’SIGUAN’ and ’BAIHUI’’YINTANG’.