Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4330303 | Brain Research | 2008 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that electroacupuncture (EA) at acupoint St36 induces antinociception by activation of the l-arg/NO/cGMP pathway. Nociception was produced by thermal stimuli applied to the face of Wistar rats and latency was measured by face withdrawal. Electric stimulation of acupoint St36 for 20Â min induced antinociception in this model, which was maintained for 150Â min. For comparison, a so-called dry needle group (DN) was used, which received needling at the same point without stimulation. The antinociception obtained by stimulation of acupoint St36 was only achieved when high frequency (100Â Hz) was used, whereas low frequencies (5 and 30Â Hz) were not capable of achieving this effect. Subcutaneous administration of both inhibitors of NO synthase (N-nitro-l-arginine) and guanylyl cyclase (ODQ) and intraperitoneal administration of specific antagonists of neuronal NO synthase (l-NNA) and inductible NO synthase (aminoguanidine) antagonized the antinociception induced by St36 stimulation. The results of this paper suggest that stimulation of acupoint St36 at high frequency induces antinociception, which seems to be related to l-arg/NO/cGMP pathway activation.
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Authors
Renato Teixeira Almeida, Igor Dimitri Gama Duarte,