Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation in Early Life Changes Synaptic Plasticity and Improves Symptoms in a Valproic Acid-Induced Rat Model of Autism.

Juan Wang,Rong Zhang,Rui Ding,Xiaoxi Wang,Chen Zhang,Yayue Song,Lu Wang,Songping Han,Jisheng Han

doi:10.1155/2020/8832694

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by social behavior deficit in childhood without satisfactory medical intervention. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) is a noninvasive technique derived from acupuncture and has been shown to have similar therapeutic effects in many diseases. Valproic acid- (VPA-) induced ASD is a known model of ASD in rats. The therapeutic efficacy of TEAS was evaluated in the VPA model of ASD in the present study. The offspring of a VPA-treated rat received TEAS in the early life stage followed by a series of examinations conducted in their adolescence. The results show that following TEAS treatment in early life, the social and cognitive ability in adolescence of the offspring of a VPA rat were significantly improved. In addition, the abnormal pain threshold was significantly corrected. Additional studies demonstrated that the dendritic spine density of the primary sensory cortex was decreased with Golgi staining. Results of the transcriptomic study showed that expression of some transcription factors such as the neurotrophic factor were downregulated in the hypothalamus of the VPA model of ASD. The reduced gene expression was reversed following TEAS. These results suggest that TEAS in the early life stage may mitigate disorders of social and recognition ability and normalize the pain threshold of the ASD rat model. The mechanism involved may be related to improvement of synaptic plasticity.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder
The Valproic acid- (VPA-)Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) group was given transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (JS-502-A manufactured at Wuxi HANS Health Medical Technology Company, Wuxi), with 6 mm electrodes attached on the acupoint of Zusanli (Figure 1(b))
There were no differences between the VPA-sham and VPA-TEAS group on postnatal day of 7th (PND7) or PND13 (Figure 1(e)). These results showed that TEAS in early life did not improve the development and communication ability of the VPA-induced offspring

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder. The core symptoms include social and communication deficits and stereotypic behavior. Meta-analysis results show that acupuncture could help ASD children reduce their Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and their Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) score [27]. Consistent with our study, previous work in our lab showed that TEAS would reduce part of ASD children’s CARS and ABC total score, thereby improving their condition [29]. This previous study demonstrated that TEAS simultaneously improved plasma levels of oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin [29]. We use an autistic rat model to study the behavioral effect of TEAS in the early life stage and its influence on transcriptomics and synapse plasticity

Material and Method

Behavior Test

Transcriptomics

Result

E Stranger 1

Discussion

Conclusions

Findings

Conflicts of Interest