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Initiation of Acupoint Molecular Mechanisms for Manual Acupuncture Analgesia—Nuclear Factor κB Signaling Pathway

  • Acupuncture Research
  • Published:
Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To identify the prominent molecular signaling in acupoints and explore their roles in initiating the analgesia effect of manual acupuncture (MA).

Method

A three-step study was conducted, the experiment 1 was a genome-wide analysis of the tissue at acupoint Zusanli (ST 36), including 12 Wistar rats which were divided into control, control+MA1, and control+MA7 groups. In the experiment 2, the paw withdrawal latency (PWL), immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis of phospho-nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) p65 (p-p65), phospho-NFκB p50 (p-p50) at ST 36 were performed on rats of saline, saline+MA, and complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA)+MA groups (n=6). In experiment 3, 24 rats were divided into saline+DMSO, CFA+DMSO, CFA+DMSO+MA, and CFA+BAY 11–7082+MA groups, the PWL and immunofluorescence assay of NFκB p65 at ST 36 was conducted.

Result

(1) The gene: inhibitor of NFκB (Nfkbia), interleukin-1β (Il1b), interleukin-6 (Il6), chemokine c-x-c motif ligand 1 (Cxcl1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/Ccl2) expressions in the control+MA7 group were significantly increased (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the expression of NFκB p65 (Rela), NFκB p50 (Nfkb1) were increased in the control+MA7 group (P<0.05). (2) CFA+MA groups showed increased PWL from day 1 to 7 (P<0.01 vs. CFA), and the Western blot results were consistent with immunohistochemistry, the expression of NFκB p-p65 and NFκB p-p50 were significantly increased in the MA-related groups compared with control and CFA groups (P<0.05). (3) Compared with the CFA+DMSO+MA group, the PWL of the CFA+ BAY 11–7082+MA group decreased significantly and continued until day 5 and 7 (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively), and the NFκB p65 expression of CFA+BAY 11–7082+MA was significantly reduced compared with CFA+DMSO+MA (P<0.01).

Conclusion

Local NFκB signaling cascade in acupoint caused by MA is an important step in initiating the analgesic effect, which would provide new evidence for the initiation of MA-effect and improve the understanding of the scientific basis of acupuncture analgesia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Kuo Zhang

  2. Research Center of Experimental Acupuncture Science, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 301617, China

    Kuo Zhang, Xue Zhao, Tao Yang, Yan-fang Zhang, Ya-wen Yan, Zhi-fang Xu, Yi-nan Gong, Yang-yang Liu & Yong-ming Guo

  3. Affiliated Hospital of Municipal Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, Changzhi, 046000, China

    Tao Yang

  4. Sanhuai Road Community Health Service Center, Tanggu Street, Binhai New Area, Tianjin, 300451, China

    Ya-wen Yan

  5. School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 301617, China

    Yi Guo

Authors
  1. Kuo Zhang
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  2. Xue Zhao
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  3. Tao Yang
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  4. Yan-fang Zhang
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  5. Ya-wen Yan
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  6. Zhi-fang Xu
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  7. Yi-nan Gong
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  8. Yang-yang Liu
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  9. Yong-ming Guo
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  10. Yi Guo
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Contributions

Zhang K, Yang T, Zhang YF and Yan YW carried out the experiments, Zhang K, Yang T and Zhang YF contributed to statistical analysis, Zhang K, Zhao X, Xu ZF, Gong YN, Liu YY wrote the manuscript, Guo Y, Guo YM and Zhao X designed the project and supervised the work and provided the facilities for the study. All authors read the manuscript and approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xue Zhao.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M651044), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81330088)

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Zhang, K., Zhao, X., Yang, T. et al. Initiation of Acupoint Molecular Mechanisms for Manual Acupuncture Analgesia—Nuclear Factor κB Signaling Pathway. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 27, 933–939 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-020-3435-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-020-3435-6

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