Zhang MM, Zhao JW, Li ZQ, Shao J, Gao XY. Acupuncture at Back-Shu point improves insomnia by reducing inflammation and inhibiting the ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway. World J Psychiatry 2023; 13(6): 340-350 [PMID: 37383281 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i6.340]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xi-Yan Gao, MD, Professor, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, No. 156, Jinshui East Road, Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan Province, China. gaoxiyan26@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Neurosciences
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Ming-Ming Zhang, Zhi-Qiang Li, Department of Pain Treatment, Luoyang Orthopedic Traumatological Hospital of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 471002, Henan Province, China
Jing-Wei Zhao, Jing Shao, Department of Geriatric Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan Province, China
Xi-Yan Gao, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang MM and Zhao JW contributed equally to this work; Gao XY, Zhang MM and Zhao JW designed the study; Zhang MM, Zhao JW, and Li ZQ conducted the study; Zhang MM and Shao J contributed new reagents and analytical tools; Zhang MM analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author at gaoxiyan26@126.com on reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xi-Yan Gao, MD, Professor, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, No. 156, Jinshui East Road, Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan Province, China. gaoxiyan26@126.com
Received: April 14, 2023 Peer-review started: April 14, 2023 First decision: April 26, 2023 Revised: May 5, 2023 Accepted: May 22, 2023 Article in press: May 22, 2023 Published online: June 19, 2023 Processing time: 66 Days and 0 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Insomnia is a disease where individuals cannot maintain a steady and stable sleep state or fail to fall asleep. Western medicine mainly uses sedatives and hypnotic drugs to treat insomnia, and long-term use is prone to drug resistance and other adverse reactions. Acupuncture has a good curative effect and unique advantages in the treatment of insomnia.
AIM
To explore the molecular mechanism of acupuncture at Back-Shu point for the treatment of insomnia.
METHODS
We first prepared a rat model of insomnia, and then carried out acupuncture for 7 consecutive days. After treatment, the sleep time and general behavior of the rats were determined. The Morris water maze test was used to assess the learning ability and spatial memory ability of the rats. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines in serum and the hippocampus were detected by ELISA. qRT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression changes in the ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were carried out to evaluate the protein expression levels of RAF-1, MEK-2, ERK1/2 and NF-κB.
RESULTS
Acupuncture can prolong sleep duration, and improve mental state, activity, diet volume, learning ability and spatial memory. In addition, acupuncture increased the release of 1L-1β, 1L-6 and TNF-α in serum and the hippocampus and inhibited the mRNA and protein expression of the ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that acupuncture at Back-Shu point can inhibit the ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway and treat insomnia by increasing the release of inflammatory cytokines in the hippo-campus.
Core Tip: In this study, insomnia was a condition that was unable to maintain a stable sleep state or to sleep. Western medicine mainly uses sedative and hypnotic drugs to treat insomnia, which easy to produce drug resistance and some adverse reactions. Acupuncture has excellent efficacy and unique advantages in the treatment of insomnia. This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of Back-Shu acupuncture for insomnia.
