Mechanism of Mongolian medical warm acupuncture in treating insomnia by regulating miR-101a in rats with insomnia

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) and the target genes before and after warm acupuncture at the genetic level were assessed, and the cytokines and neurotransmitters related to insomnia were studied. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used to create PCPA insomnia rat models and randomly divided into the normal, model, warm acupuncture, and drug groups. The Dinghui Acupoint, Heyi Acupoint, and Xin Acupoint were inserted in the Mongolian medicine warm acupuncture group. The differential expression profile of microRNA in the brain tissue of the insomnia rats was determined before and after Mongolian medicine warm acupuncture for establishment of miR-101a mimics and inhibitor. qPCR was used to detect the expression level of miR-101a. Western blotting was used to detect the expression level of PAX8. The rats receiving Mongolian medicine warm acupuncture had 141 miRNAs with differential expression compared with the normal rats. The expression level of miR-101a in the cells of the hippocampus of the insomnia rats transfected with miR-101a mimics increased significantly at 72 h (P<0.05). The activity of the neuronal cells transfected with miR-101a inhibitor increased significantly at 72 h (P<0.05). The western blotting result indicated that the expression of the PAX8 protein in the neuronal cells of the insomnia model rats was inhibited and downregulated significantly at 72 h after addition of miR-101a mimics compared with that in the scramble added group (P<0.01). The levels of the interleukins IL-1, IL-2, and IL-6 and the tumor necrosis factor-α in the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex decreased significantly compared with those in the blank control group (P<0.05). The levels of noradrenaline, dopamine, and glutamic decreased significantly following warm acupuncture or western medicine treatment (P<0.05). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the upregulation of miR-101a in the rats treated with warm acupuncture is directly associated with PAX8 regulation.

MicroRNA in Acupuncture Studies: Does Small RNA Shed Light on the Biological Mechanism of Acupuncture?

“…They used parachlorophenylalanine-induced insomnia rat models and performed Mongolian medial warm acupuncture treatment. After the treatment, they detected upregulation of miR-101a in the brain and suggested that the upregulation of miR-101a is probably related to paired box gene 8 regulation [44].…”

Effects of Mongolian Warm Acupuncture on iNOS/NO and Inflammatory Cytokines in the Hippocampus of Chronic Fatigue Rats

“…The Mongolian warm acupuncture (WA) is a traditional therapy of Mongolian medicine, which uses silver needles and gives acupuncture and warm stimulation at specified points (Bo et al, 2017). Studies have shown that Mongolian WA can regulate the neuroendocrine and immune system (Huo, 2006;Agula and Chen, 2009;Chen et al, 2010).…”

Establishment of a rat model with ageing insomnia induced by D‑galactosef and para‑chlorophenylalanine

“…The ageing model induced by D-gal has been widely used (21,22) and has been evaluated in behavioral, biochemical and neurochemical aspects (23). The modeling methods of animal models of insomnia mainly include chemical reagent stimulation using intraperitoneal injection of para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) (24), the horizontal platform environmental deprivation method (25), the stress stimulation sleep deprivation method (26), the gentle stimulation deprivation method and the forced exercise deprivation method (27). Rat and mouse models can be used; however, rat models are optimal due to model stability in the establishment of the ageing model induced by D-gal (28).…”