PMID- 37483411
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230725
IS  - 1178-7090 (Print)
IS  - 1178-7090 (Electronic)
IS  - 1178-7090 (Linking)
VI  - 16
DP  - 2023
TI  - Electroacupuncture Attenuates Neuropathic Pain in a Rat Model of Cervical 
      Spondylotic Radiculopathy: Involvement of Spinal Cord Synaptic Plasticity.
PG  - 2447-2460
LID - 10.2147/JPR.S415111 [doi]
AB  - PURPOSE: Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is a common neurologic 
      condition that causes chronic neck pain and motor functions, with neuropathic 
      pain (NP) being the primary symptom. Although it has been established that 
      electroacupuncture (EA) can yield an analgesic effect in clinics and synaptic 
      plasticity plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of NP, the 
      underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we explored 
      the potential mechanisms underlying EA's effect on synaptic plasticity in CSR rat 
      models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The CSR rat model was established by spinal cord 
      compression (SCC). Electroacupuncture stimulation was applied to LI4 (Hegu) and 
      LR3 (Taichong) acupoints for 20 min once a day for 7 days. Pressure pain 
      threshold (PPT) and mechanical pain threshold (MPT) were utilized to detect the 
      pain response of rats. A gait score was used to evaluate the motor function of 
      rats. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blot (WB), 
      immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence (IF), and transmission electron 
      microscopy (TEM) were performed to investigate the effects of EA. RESULTS: Our 
      results showed that EA alleviated SCC-induced spontaneous pain and gait 
      disturbance. ELISA showed that EA could decrease the concentration of pain 
      mediators in the cervical nerve root. WB, IHC, and IF results showed that EA 
      could downregulate the expression of synaptic proteins in spinal cord tissues and 
      promote synaptic plasticity. TEM revealed that the EA could reverse the synaptic 
      ultrastructural changes induced by CSR. CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal that EA 
      can inhibit SCC-induced NP by modulating the synaptic plasticity in the spinal 
      cord and provide the foothold for the clinical treatment of CSR with EA.
CI  - (c) 2023 Yang et al.
FAU - Yang, Pu
AU  - Yang P
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6231-4721
AD  - Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of 
      China.
FAU - Chen, Hai-Yan
AU  - Chen HY
AD  - The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, 
      Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
FAU - Zhang, Xi
AU  - Zhang X
AD  - The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, 
      Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
FAU - Wang, Tian
AU  - Wang T
AD  - Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of 
      China.
FAU - Li, Ling
AU  - Li L
AD  - The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, 
      Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
FAU - Su, Hong
AU  - Su H
AD  - Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of 
      China.
FAU - Li, Jing
AU  - Li J
AUID- ORCID: 0009-0003-6218-4407
AD  - Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of 
      China.
FAU - Guo, Yan-Jun
AU  - Guo YJ
AD  - Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of 
      China.
FAU - Su, Sheng-Yong
AU  - Su SY
AD  - The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanning, 
      Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
AD  - Guangxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Preventive Medicine of Traditional 
      Chinese Medicine, Nanning, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230718
PL  - New Zealand
TA  - J Pain Res
JT  - Journal of pain research
JID - 101540514
PMC - PMC10362917
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - cervical spondylotic radiculopathy
OT  - electroacupuncture
OT  - spinal dorsal horn
OT  - synaptic plasticity
COIS- Pu Yang and Hai-Yan Chen share first authorship. The authors declare that they 
      have no conflicts of interest for this work.
EDAT- 2023/07/24 06:43
MHDA- 2023/07/24 06:44
PMCR- 2023/07/18
CRDT- 2023/07/24 04:29
PHST- 2023/03/30 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/07/07 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/07/24 06:44 [medline]
PHST- 2023/07/24 06:43 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/07/24 04:29 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/07/18 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 415111 [pii]
AID - 10.2147/JPR.S415111 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - J Pain Res. 2023 Jul 18;16:2447-2460. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S415111. eCollection 2023.