Abstract
Electroacupuncture at the ST36 acupoint can enhance the body’s immune function. However, the mechanism for this enhancement has not been fully described. Our study was designed to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture on the immune function of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The rats were randomly divided into three groups: a control group, a non-acupoint group (abdominal muscle acupuntured) and a ST36 acupoint group. Our results showed that successive electroacupuncture at the ST36 acupoint for 3 d significantly enhanced the interferon-γ (IFN-γ) level in the serum of SD rats. The results also showed that the serum and extracts from spleen cells of the ST36 acupoint group contained higher levels of interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-17 compared to those of the other two groups. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that electroacupuncture applied to the ST36 acupoint enhanced the expression level of CD4 in spleen cells. Furthermore, it was observed that CD4 co-localized with transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) channels at the membrane of splenic CD4+ T cells and the expression level of CD4 was related to TRPV channels in the electroacupuncture treatment. These observations indicated that electroacupuncture stimulation at the ST36 acupoint enhanced the level of immune cytokines and splenic CD4+ T cells through TRPV channels in this system.
Highlights
Electroacupuncture (EA) treatment is one of the most popular approaches in complementary medicine and health maintenance
The animals were randomly divided into 3 groups: (a) a control group in which the animals received no treatment and were housed at the animal facilities (20–23 ̊C, 50% ± 5% humidity, 12-hour light/dark cycle with lights on at 8:00 am); (b) a non-acupoint group in which electroacupuncture stimulation was applied to the abdominal muscle as described in a previous study [16]; (c) and a ST36 acupoint group in which electroacupuncture stimulation was applied to the ST36 acupoint
A previous study reported that electroacupuncture applied to the ST36 acupoint for three consecutive days enhanced the level of IFN-γ in the spleen of rats [15, 17]
Summary
Electroacupuncture (EA) treatment is one of the most popular approaches in complementary medicine and health maintenance. It has been shown to have some analgesic effects in relieving pain [1,2,3,4,5]. Some experimental and clinical studies have shown that sequential electroacupuncture stimulation applied to the ST36 acupoint (Zusanli acupuncture point) performed well in the treatment of stress-induced immunodeficiency [5, 6]. A previous study demonstrated that electrical stimulation at the ST36 acupoints can activate the immune system. Electroacupucture at ST36 acupoint could enhance immune function. He had a role in the study design
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