LIU Qiong1, LIU Xia1, BI Ding-yan1,HE Wei2, LIU Mai-lan1,LIU Mi1, WANG Xiao-yu2,ZHANGXiao-ning2,JING Xiang-hong2, CHANG Xiao-rong1

(1College 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 neuropeptidesafter acupuncture andmoxibustion 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/6mice 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 aggregationand degranulation induced by acupuncture or moxibustion in TRPV1-/- mice was the same as that in the C57BL/6mice. 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/6mice 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/6mice induced by acupuncture or moxibustion as well, especially for VR1 expression.  

Conclusion: Both acupuncture and moxibustionsitmulation induced the aggregation and degranulationof mast cell and nerve fibers highly expression of nociceptive neuropeptides. Trpv1 was involved in the responses. Furthermore, moxibustion caused moremast cells degranulation compared withacupuncture.

Key words:acupuncture,hot moxibustion,mast cell,nociceptive peptide