Low-frequency electroacupncture improves locomotor function after sciatic crushed nerve injury in rats

Abstract

Sciatic crushed nerve injury (SCI) causes pain-related gait and swelling in the affected limb. Electroacupuncture (EA) is a modified acupuncture technique, and analgesic effect of EA on different types of pain has been documented. Scientific functional index (SFI) is a mathematical formula to represent parameters of normal and experimental footprints. We investigated the effect of low-frequency EA on functional recovery following SCI in rats. For this study, immunohistochemistry for c-Fos in the ventral lateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and western blot for neurofilament (NF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the sciatic nerve were conducted. To induce crush injury on the sciatic nerve, sciatic nerve was crushed for 30 sec using a surgical clip. The rats in the acupuncture groups received acupuncture bilaterally at respective site, once a day for 14 days. The rats in the EA group received 100-Hz electrical stimulation for 10 min once a day during 14 days. SCI decreased SFI value, in contrast, EA increased SFI value. c-Fos expression in the vlPAG and PVN was increased following SCI, in contrast, EA suppressed c-Fos expression. NF expression in the sciatic nerve was decreased by SCI, in contrast, EA increased NF expression. BDNF expression in the sciatic nerve was increased by SCI, in contrast, EA suppressed BDNF expression. In the present study, EA showed effectiveness on functional recovery from SCI.

Dexmedetomidine Improves Locomotor Function and Alleviates Thermal Hyperalgesia Following Sciatic Nerve Crush Injury in Rats

“…The frontal cortex, thalamus, and PAG are the main structures for coordination of pain perception. Ligation of sciatic nerve increased the level of c-Fos expression in these brain regions [28]. Increase of c-Fos expression indicates that pain transmitted to the PVN and vlPAG was enhanced.…”

“…According to the previous described method [3,22], we conducted c-Fos immunohistochemistry to detect c-Fos expression in the PVN and vlPAG. Rabbit anti-c-Fos antibody (1:1,000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA) was incubated with the free-floating sections overnight.…”

“…Damage to the peripheral nervous system causes secondary complication such as permanent impairment of sensorimotor function and neuropathic pain, leading to loss of function and deteriorating quality of life [2]. Sciatic nerve crush injury (SNCI) is a type of painful neuropathy, and the affected limb expresses hyperalgesia, abnormal gait, and swelling [3].…”

Electroacupuncture Alleviates Diabetic Neuropathic Pain and Downregulates p‐PKC and TRPV1 in Dorsal Root Ganglions and Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn

“…A previous study reported that 2 Hz EA has better analgesic efects than 100 Hz EA [20]. Te analgesic efect of 2 Hz EA has also been demonstrated in other pain models [54,55]. Numerous studies have shown that EA intervention on ST36 and BL60 in rats can alleviate diferent types of neuropathic pain [56][57][58].…”

Progress on the Experimental Research of Sciatic Nerve Injury with Acupuncture

“…Indeed, numerous studies have demonstrated that electroacupuncture has a good analgesic effect on various kinds of painful diseases [ 35 , 36 ]. Here, it should be noted that although the 2/100 Hz dilatational wave is an appropriate choice for the animal models [ 37 , 38 ] since the body size is different between small animals and humans, whether this parameter is suitable for the patients remains unanswered.…”