{"title":"A spinal neural circuit for electroacupuncture that regulates gastric functional disorders.","authors":"Meng-Ting Zhang, Yi-Feng Liang, Qian Dai, He-Ren Gao, Hao Wang, Li Chen, Shun Huang, Xi-Yang Wang, Guo-Ming Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.joim.2024.11.005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Acupuncture therapies are known for their effectiveness in treating a variety of gastric diseases, although the mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood. This study tested the effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA) at acupoints Zhongwan (RN12) and Weishu (BL21) for managing gastric motility disorder (GMD) and investigated the underlying mechanisms involved.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A GMD model was used to evaluate the impact of EA on various aspects of gastric function including the amplitude of gastric motility, electrogastrogram, food intake, and the rate of gastric emptying. Immunofluorescence techniques were used to explore the activation of spinal neurons by EA, specifically examining the presence of cholera toxin B subunit (CTB)-positive neurons and fibers emanating from acupoints RN12 and BL21. The stimulation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurons in the spinal dorsal horn, the inhibition of sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal lateral horn, and their collective effects on the activity of sympathetic nerves were examined.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>EA at RN12 and BL21 significantly improved gastric motility compromised by GMD. Notably, EA activated spinal neurons, with CTB-positive neurons and fibers from RN12 and BL21 being detectable in both the dorsal root ganglia and the spinal dorsal horn. Further analysis revealed that EA at these acupoints not only stimulated GABAergic neurons in the spinal dorsal horn but also suppressed sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal lateral horn, effectively reducing excessive activity of sympathetic nerves triggered by GMD.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>EA treatment at RN12 and BL21 effectively enhances gastric motility in a GMD model. The therapeutic efficacy of this approach is attributed to the activation of spinal neurons and the modulation of the spinal GABAergic-sympathetic pathway, providing a neurobiological foundation for the role of acupuncture in treating gastric disorders. Please cite this article as: Zhang MT, Liang YF, Dai Q, Gao HR, Wang H, Chen L, Huang S, Wang XY, Shen GM. A spinal neural circuit for electroacupuncture that regulates gastric functional disorders. J Integr Med. 2024; Epub ahead of print.</p>","PeriodicalId":48599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Integrative Medicine-Jim","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joim.2024.11.005","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Acupuncture therapies are known for their effectiveness in treating a variety of gastric diseases, although the mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood. This study tested the effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA) at acupoints Zhongwan (RN12) and Weishu (BL21) for managing gastric motility disorder (GMD) and investigated the underlying mechanisms involved.
Methods: A GMD model was used to evaluate the impact of EA on various aspects of gastric function including the amplitude of gastric motility, electrogastrogram, food intake, and the rate of gastric emptying. Immunofluorescence techniques were used to explore the activation of spinal neurons by EA, specifically examining the presence of cholera toxin B subunit (CTB)-positive neurons and fibers emanating from acupoints RN12 and BL21. The stimulation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurons in the spinal dorsal horn, the inhibition of sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal lateral horn, and their collective effects on the activity of sympathetic nerves were examined.
Results: EA at RN12 and BL21 significantly improved gastric motility compromised by GMD. Notably, EA activated spinal neurons, with CTB-positive neurons and fibers from RN12 and BL21 being detectable in both the dorsal root ganglia and the spinal dorsal horn. Further analysis revealed that EA at these acupoints not only stimulated GABAergic neurons in the spinal dorsal horn but also suppressed sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal lateral horn, effectively reducing excessive activity of sympathetic nerves triggered by GMD.
Conclusion: EA treatment at RN12 and BL21 effectively enhances gastric motility in a GMD model. The therapeutic efficacy of this approach is attributed to the activation of spinal neurons and the modulation of the spinal GABAergic-sympathetic pathway, providing a neurobiological foundation for the role of acupuncture in treating gastric disorders. Please cite this article as: Zhang MT, Liang YF, Dai Q, Gao HR, Wang H, Chen L, Huang S, Wang XY, Shen GM. A spinal neural circuit for electroacupuncture that regulates gastric functional disorders. J Integr Med. 2024; Epub ahead of print.
期刊介绍：
The predecessor of JIM is the Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine (Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Xue Bao). With this new, English-language publication, we are committed to make JIM an international platform for publishing high-quality papers on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and an open forum in which the different professions and international scholarly communities can exchange views, share research and their clinical experience, discuss CAM education, and confer about issues and problems in our various disciplines and in CAM as a whole in order to promote integrative medicine.
JIM is indexed/abstracted in: MEDLINE/PubMed, ScienceDirect, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Embase, Chemical Abstracts (CA), CAB Abstracts, EBSCO, WPRIM, JST China, Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD), and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
JIM Editorial Office uses ThomsonReuters ScholarOne Manuscripts as submitting and review system (submission link: http://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/jcim-en).
JIM is published bimonthly. Manuscripts submitted to JIM should be written in English. Article types include but are not limited to randomized controlled and pragmatic trials, translational and patient-centered effectiveness outcome studies, case series and reports, clinical trial protocols, preclinical and basic science studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, papers on methodology and CAM history or education, conference proceedings, editorials, commentaries, short communications, book reviews, and letters to the editor.
Our purpose is to publish a prestigious international journal for studies in integrative medicine. To achieve this aim, we seek to publish high-quality papers on any aspects of integrative medicine, such as acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutrition, chiropractic, mind-body medicine, taichi, qigong, meditation, and any other modalities of CAM; our commitment to international scope ensures that research and progress from all regions of the world are widely covered. These ensure that articles published in JIM have the maximum exposure to the international scholarly community.
JIM can help its authors let their papers reach the widest possible range of readers, and let all those who share an interest in their research field be concerned with their study.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
