LIU Qiong, LIU Xia, BI Dingyan, HE Wei, LIU Mailan, LIU Mi, WANG Xiaoyu, ZHANG Xiao-ning, JING Xianghong, CHANG Xiaorong

(1 College of Acu-moxibustion and Massage, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410007, China; 2 Institute of Acupucture-moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700)

Abstract:  Objective:  To  determine  whether  TRPV1mediates  the  expression  of  mast  cell  and nociceptive  neuropeptides  after  acupuncture  and  moxibustion  in  acupoint  ST36  area  of  mice. Materials and Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice and Male TRPV1 knockout (TRPV1-/-) mice were both randomly divided into normal group, acupuncture group and moxibustion group, 5 mice in each group. After adaptive feeding for 1 week, acupoint Zusanli (ST36) of C57BL/6 and TRPV1-/-  mice  were  administrated  with  manual  acupuncture  for  5min  or  moxibustion  for  30min. 

Immnohistochemistry  analysis  were  carried  out  to  observe  the  expression  of  histamine  (HA),  serotonin(5-HT)  and   nociceptive  neuropeptides,  calcitonin  gene-related  peptide(CGRP)  and substance P (SP), in ST36 area. Mast cells were labeled with anti-mast cell tryptase antibody and simultaneously with HA or 5-HT primary antibodies  to observe their co-expression.  Result:  1）The  expression  of  mast  cells  in  C57BL/6  mice  increased  significantly  after  acupuncture  or moxibustion than that of the control. Mast cells were deformed with aggregation and degranulation. Moreover,  mast  cells’  degranulation  induced  by  moxibustion  was  more  extensive  than  that  of acupuncture (P<0.05). The granules from mast cells due to acupuncture or moxibustion were   5-HT  and HA immno-positive and the granulated mast cells concentrated nearby blood vessels. In addition nerve fibers highly expressing CGRP, SP or VR1 were distributed around blood vessels and hair follicles after acupuncture or moxibustion. 2）Mast cells aggregation and degranulation induced by acupuncture or moxibustion in TRPV1-/-  mice was the same as that in the C57BL/6 mice. So did the neuropeptides of CGRP, SP , VR1, HA, 5-HT. 3) the No. of mast cells with aggregation and degranulation in TRPV1-/-  mice was markedly decreased than that of C57BL/6 mice induced by acupuncture or moxibustion. 4) The expression of CGRP, SP, VR1, HA and 5-HT in TRPV1-/- mice was less than that of C57BL/6 mice induced by acupuncture or moxibustion as well, especially for VR1 expression. Conclusion: Both acupuncture and moxibustion sitmulation induced  the  aggregation  and  degranulation  of  mast  cell  and  nerve  fibers  highly  expression  of nociceptive neuropeptides. Trpv1 was involved in the responses. Furthermore, moxibustion caused more mast cells degranulation compared with acupuncture.

Key words: Acupuncture,hot moxibustion, Mast cell, Nociceptive peptide