Acupuncture Stimulates the Release of Serotonin, but Not Dopamine, in the Rat Nucleus Accumbens

Yoshimoto, Kanji; Fukuda, Fumihiko; Hori, Masafumi; Kato, Baku; Kato, Hideaki; Hattori, Hiroyuki; Tokuda, Naoki; Kuriyama, Kinya; Yano, Tadashi; Yasuhara, Masahiro

doi:10.1620/tjem.208.321

Cited by 52 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(18 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Alternative interpretations include the notion that EA increases the release of serotonin [11] or reduces the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens [8]; either of these might well contribute to the effects of EA on alcohol intake. Only further studies can determine the relevance of these effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As evidenced, EA has been reported to counteract the effects of a variety of drugs of abuse, including morphine [6] and alcohol [7][8][9][10][11]. Because EA can suppress alcohol withdrawal symptoms [7] and inhibits alcohol-stimulated release of dopamine in nucleus accumbens [8], it was predicted that the application of EA would reduce alcohol intake in alcohol-preferring rats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Electroacupuncture Reduces Voluntary Alcohol Intake in Alcohol-preferring Rats via an Opiate-sensitive Mechanism

Overstreet¹,

Cui

et al. 2008

Neurochem Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to modify the effects of various drugs of abuse, including alcohol. Inbred P rats were trained to drink alcohol voluntarily and then subjected to two periods of alcohol deprivation lasting 3 days. During the second deprivation, the rats received either EA or sham EA. The rats were pretreated with naltrexone (5 mg/kg) or saline 30 min before each of the EA or sham EA sessions. Approximately 6 h after the last naltrexone or saline treatment, the alcohol tubes were returned and alcohol and water intakes were recorded later at 2, 4, 6, and 24 h. Only EA led to a decrease in alcohol intake, which was most prominent at 6 and 24 h, and this inhibitory effect of EA was blocked by naltrexone, suggesting that activation of the endogenous opiate system may be responsible for EA's effects on alcohol intake in the alcohol-dependent iP rats.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroacupuncture Reduces Voluntary Alcohol Intake in Alcohol-preferring Rats via an Opiate-sensitive Mechanism

Overstreet¹,

Cui

et al. 2008

Neurochem Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Differences in frequency effects (1Hz or 100Hz) on dopamine and serotonin were also reported. 7 It was suggested that the effects of electroacupuncture compensated for the changes elicited by the restraint stress. The results of the above studies are supported by studies of the human brain following acupuncture.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Some of the Effects of Acupuncture in Knee Pain May be Due to Activation of the Reward System

Lundeberg

2006

Acupunct Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Acupuncture is an ancient therapy with a variety of different explanatory models. A cascade of physiologic effects has been reported, both in the peripheral and the central nervous system, following the insertion of a needle. Clinical trials testing the specific claims of acupuncture have generally tried to focus on testing the efficacy of applying specific techniques and/or specified points. However, different conditions may respond differently to different modes of stimulation. Also, insertion of needles into the body can stimulate effects not dependent on the locations of stimulation. Recently, it was demonstrated that both superficial and deep needling (with de qi/Hibiki) resulted in amelioration of patellofemoral pain and an increased feeling of wellbeing. One area in the brain that is affected by acupuncture stimulation is the limbic system. The limbic system consists of a group of brain structures, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and their interconnections, and connections with the hypothalamus, septal area, and portions of the tegmentum. It contains many of the centres related to emotion and reward.The pleasurable aspect of the acupuncture experience has largely been ignored as it has been considered to be part of its antinociceptive effects. It has previously been reported that physical exercise and electroacupuncture in animals result in modulation of the peptidergic content in limbic structures. These results are supported by recent animal studies in Japan that have clearly demonstrated that acupuncture results in the activation of the reward system. These findings are supported by positron emission tomography studies in patients, which showed that the insula ipsilateral to the site of needling was activated, as well as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate and the midbrain.Taken together, these results suggest that acupuncture, as well as the patient's expectation and belief regarding a potentially beneficial treatment, modulate activity in the reward system.

show abstract

“…Reward is private: since it is also reproductive funcions, we have to guarantee that, even because for both TCM and fluxes theories… only if we have a good jing function our health is at its best… [13] so when we hear about privacy rights and laws [14]: we can ascribe that to neuroscientifical reasons also [15] B. And if we want to point out: this brain structure allows us to classify the ANTI-REWARD idea, the micro-damage: if an external cause make us pass from medial reward to lateral reward, this of obviously a biological damage [14], so it's a material modification that makes us pass from wellness to stress so to sick risk; if this: or is already deterministic (an external cause provokes a negative effect) or if its has a stochastical effect, it's clearly a biological damage, since health is a right and wellness too C. Passing to happier ideas: wedding permits 20 years more of life, better also in quality -and the couples who live a better love life are those having a stronger activation of reward pathways at fMRI [16] D. Talking about strategies: of course the best reward are natural, as we synthetize in the symbol E. CAM techniques are also natural and also act on reward system: a.…”

Section: Reward Ideas and Strategies 3/4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reward Ideas and Strategies

Dragoni¹

2016

IJCAM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article we focus on reward system. Reward system can be considered the center of our body-mind equilibrium: we have medial reward, leading life, reproduction, needs, and willings; if this is not adequatly satisfied, dopamine is converted by dopa-beta-hydroxilase into catecolamines, and habenula regulates the balance so that lateral reward risk to become prevalent, with activation of HPA axis (hypothalamus-pituitary gland-adrenal glands), with all the negative effects typical of most diffused world diseases.Reward can be somehow identified with the TCM three treasures: qi (energy), shen (psyche = ψυχή = jing (the reproductive essence, created thanks to the ministerial fire of ming men, an extraordinary kidney function).Reward can synthetized as the summa of our needs: so the secret for a happy life, as 5000 years ago revealed Ayurveda Tradition and 3000 years ago Traditional Chinese Medicine followed, is a correct lifestyle... it mainly means: following our needs in a balanced way. OpinionDora and Fatih, seeing that Occidental Medicine tends to prefer practical observations than traditional knowledges (based also on medicine and health practise), taking inspiration by works by Esch and Stefano,... we created a REWARD STRATEGY symbol that contains all the pillars for a good lifestyle: a. Diet: for example mediterrenean diet, knowing that nowadays, as in oriental health systems, quality is becoming important as quality b. Fitness: 1 hour fitness per day is suggested (average) c. Mind: have a relaxed mind (alpha waves too) is basis for wellbeing d. Love life: love life is a genetical need, that's why affective life is a human right, and of course in reward view it's the best way to make medial reward prevale, and for TCM it's the essential solution to preserve jing, the vital essence e. Sleep: 7-8 hours per night f. Extra-rewards: if, for external reasons, despite all this… there risk to be disarmonies, we can recur to CAM for example, since complementary and alternative medicines are the only kind of medicine improving medial reward, that means that they act on BEN the root solving also the BIAO the manifestation (the target for Occidental Medicine). (Figure 1)Of course we can talk also about the anti-reward, what we can call a micro-damage: if for any external reason reward is not guaranteed, this impact in stochastic way on our wellness (or even deterministic).Another clue related to reward is synchronization: this is typical and basis for couple love, since love life makes so that two persons (brains, bodies-minds, lives) become synchronized (their EEG become similar), and this is indeed related to a positive medial reward function, that's why privacy is not only a theoretical rule but also a real need… we have to choose the best "synchronizations" we can in order to guarantee to us wellbeing day by day.We can say that reward is need, is right and is duty too, since health is a duty for us, for our partner, for families and for world society too, to maintain equlibria inside and outside as well: ...

show abstract

Acupuncture Stimulates the Release of Serotonin, but Not Dopamine, in the Rat Nucleus Accumbens

Cited by 52 publications

References 22 publications

Electroacupuncture Reduces Voluntary Alcohol Intake in Alcohol-preferring Rats via an Opiate-sensitive Mechanism

Electroacupuncture Reduces Voluntary Alcohol Intake in Alcohol-preferring Rats via an Opiate-sensitive Mechanism

Some of the Effects of Acupuncture in Knee Pain May be Due to Activation of the Reward System

Reward Ideas and Strategies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About