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KMID : 1129720020190010059
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Korean Journal of Acupuncture
2002 Volume.19 No. 1 p.59 ~ p.67
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Effects of Acupuncture on the Neuronal Activation of Paraventricular Nucleus of Hypothalamus in Lipopolysaccharide-injected Rats
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Son Yang-Sun
Park Hi-Joon
Kim Seung-Tae
Lim Sabina
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Abstract
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Acupuncture has long been renowned for its effective therapeutic benefits, such as relief of pain, immunomodulation and treatment of internal organic disorders in Oriental medicine16,20,30). According to the theories of Oriental medicine, acupuncture acts on human body to sustain the Yin and Yang balance by regulating Qi, and finally displays its efficacy on various diseases1). Particularly, many researchers have reported studies on the immunomodulatory effect of acupuncture3,32). For example, modulatory effect of acupuncture on immune function has been reported in the traumatized rats5,7,8). In addition, other researchers observed that several immune- related indexes such as the natural killer cell activity, interferon-γ and interleukin-2 increased in normal animals after acupuncture treatment27,39,40). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an endotoxin derived from gram-negative bacterial cell wall. It has been used to induce the bacterial infection-like symptom in animals by central or peripheral injection. This infectious condition, including fever, is known to be activated by pro-inflammatory cytokines - e.g. interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α- that stimulate the central immune regulatory center, the hypothalamus10,15). Stimulating hypothalamus via cytokine-induced pathway could be followed by the activation of hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis, which induces systemic symptoms such as decrease in feeding, drinking, social interactions and alterations in brain neurochemistry15). In fact, these cytokines activate the HPA axis mainly by stimulating the neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN)10,18). PVN has been known to represent a center for homeostasis. It contains specific neuronal projections to endocrine and autonomic control sites33) and involves in the acute phase reaction of inflammatory response18,36). As a main integrative part of hypothalamus, the PVN is known to be activated in response to immune stress, e.g. via the systemic injection of endotoxin, and to act on the anterior pituitary gland by secreting corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) to stimulate the release of adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH)2,17). It is well known that peripheral (i.v. or i.p.) injection of LPS stimulates the neurons in the PVN10,25), and in turn, increases the plasma CRF and ACTH through the activation of HPA axis12,13,26,34). C-Fos, which is an immediate early gene expressed after different kinds of stimulation, has been used as neuronal marker14,29). Integration of above known facts suggests a hypothesis that the anti-inflammatory effects of acupuncture could be mediated by the activation of the PVN neurons. Therefore, I have carried out this study to investigate the effects of acupuncture on the neuronal activation of PVN in the LPS-injected rats using c-Fos immunohistochemistry.
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KEYWORD
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Acupuncture, Lipopolysaccharide, Paraventricular nucleus, Neuronal activation, Immunomodulation
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