Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the level of cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor expression causes the differences between the responder and non-responder to electroacupuncture mediated analgesic effects. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were stimulated at the Zusanli (ST36) acupoint in the absence of any anesthetics and holders. The tail flick latency test was performed to quantify analgesic effects and then the responder and non-responder groups were classified. The hypothalamus of each group was dissected and RNA was purified. The amount of mRNA expression of CCK-A and CCK-B receptors was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The results show that CCK-A receptors are significantly more expressed in non-responders than responders, whereas CCK-B receptor expression is similar in both groups. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Author keywords

Acupuncture; Cholecystokinin; Cholecystokinin-A receptor; Cholecystokinin-B receptor; Non-responder; Responder

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms: cholecystokinin A receptor; cholecystokinin B receptor; messenger RNA; RNA

EMTREE medical terms: acupuncture analgesia; animal experiment; animal tissue; article; controlled study; electroacupuncture; hypothalamus; male; nonhuman; priority journal; protein expression; rat; reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; RNA purification; tail flick test

MeSH: Acupuncture Analgesia; Animals; Electroacupuncture; Male; Pain; Pain Measurement; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reaction Time; Receptor, Cholecystokinin A; Receptor, Cholecystokinin B; Receptors, Cholecystokinin; RNA, Messenger
Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document.

Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: Receptor, Cholecystokinin A; Receptor, Cholecystokinin B; Receptors, Cholecystokinin; RNA, Messenger