Affiliation:
1. Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridian, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
2. Laboratory Center of Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China
Abstract
Acupuncture is emerging as an alternative therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the molecular mechanism underlying this beneficial effect of acupuncture has not been fully understood. Here, we demonstrated that electroacupuncture at acupoints Zusanli (ST36), Xuanzhong (GB39); and Shenshu (BL23) markedly decreased the paw swelling and the histologic scores of inflammation in the synovial tissue, and reduced the body weight loss in an adjuvant-induced arthritis rat model. However, the electrical stimulation at nonacupoint did not produce any beneficial effects against the experimental arthritis. Most interestingly, the electroacupuncture treatment resulted in an enhanced immunostaining for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a potent anti-inflammatory neuropeptide, in the synovial tissue. Moreover, the VIP-immunostaining intensity was significantly negatively correlated with the scores of inflammation in the synovial tissue (r=−0.483,P=.0026). In conclusion, these findings suggest that electroacupuncture may offer therapeutic benefits for the treatment of RA, at least partially through the induction of VIP expression.
Funder
Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation
Subject
Complementary and alternative medicine
Cited by
36 articles.
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