OBJECTIVETo compare therapeutic effects of acupuncture and embedding thread on depression and to probe the mechanism.

METHODSThirty-two adult SD rats, 16 females and 16 males, were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, an acupuncture group and an embedding thread group, 8 rats in each group. Separated feeding, long-term unpredictable and middle stimulation stress were used for development of depression rat model. At the same time, the treatment groups were treated for 21 days. The changes of norepinephrine (NE), 5-hydoxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) contents in the brain were detected by high performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical detector.

RESULTSCompared with the normal group, 5-HT, NE and DA contents in the hypothalamus and hippocampus decreased significantly in the model group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01); compared with the model group, the contents of the central monoamine neurotransmitters increased in both the acupuncture group and the embedding thread group, but the embedding thread group had more obvious action in improvement of 5-HT and DA levels in the hypothalamus and DA level in the hippocampus than the acupuncture group with no significant difference between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONBoth acupuncture and embedding thread therapy are effective for the depression model rat. They play the therapeutic role through regulating central monoamine neurotransmitters.