Objective To observe the interventional effect of acupuncture on apoptosis of hippocampal neuron of depression model rats,and the effect on the c-Jun N-terminal kinase(JNK)pathway,so as to reveal the mechanism of anti-depression of acupuncture.Methods Altogether 36 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups (each n =6):control group,control + inhibitor (SP600125,a JNK inhibitor )group,model group,model +inhibitor group,acupuncture group and acupuncture +inhibitor group.Except the control group and control +inhibitor group,the rats in the other four groups were forced to swim and be bred solitarily to establish the rat depression model.Baihui (GV20)and Yin-tang (GV29),the acupoints selected in rats of acupuncture group and acupuncture +inhibitor group, were needled for 20 minutes,once daily for two days.Using Western blot to detect the protein expression of c-Jun,the substrate of JNK pathway,in hippocampus of all groups of rats,and using RT-PCR to ex-amine the gene expression of apoptosis-related caspase-3 in hippocampus of rats.Results Compared with the control group,caspase-3 gene expression and c-Jun protein expression showed no significant difference in control +inhibitor group(P >0.05),but both were higher in those of model group(P <0.01).Compared with model group,the expression levels of caspase-3 were lower significantly in model+inhibitor group,acupuncture group and acupuncture + inhibitor group(P <0.01 ),and the protein expression levels of c-Jun were lower significantly in model +inhibitor group,acupuncture group and acu-puncture +inhibitor group(P <0.05,P <0.05,P <0.01 ).Conclusion Apoptosis of hippocampal neurons may be inhibited via the interventional effect of acupuncture on JNK pathway activities which down-regulate c-Jun protein expression and apoptosis-related caspase-3 gene expression.It may be one of the potential molecular mechanisms of antidepressant effect of acupuncture.

Objective To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on hippocampal chemokine cys-x-cys receptor 4 (CXCR4) and interferon-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) in rats with depression disorder.Methods The rat model of depression disorder was induced by unpredictable chronic-mild stimulation.Forty male rats were randomly divided into normal,model,EA and fluoxetine groups.Rats in EA group received electro-acupuncture at GV20 (Baihui) and GV29 (Yintang).Rats in fluoxetine group were administered with fluoxetine by oral gavage.On the 28th day,the expression of hippocampal CXCR4 and IP-10 were detected by using antibody microarrays technology.Fold change and ratio of the density of the proteins were used to investigate alteration of the differential protein expression.Results Compared with the normal group,unpredictable chronic-mild stimulation up-regulated the expression of hippocampal CXCR4 and IP-10 in model group (fold change =1.21,1.50).Compared with the model group,EA and fluoxetine reversed the up-regulation of hippocampal CXCR4 and IP-10 (EA group:fold change =0.65,0.72;fluoxetine group:fold change =0.57,0.62).Conclusion Effects of electro-acupuncture on depression disorder may be achieved by regulating the expression of hippocampal CXCR4 and IP-10.

This study was aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying the neuropsychiatric comorbidity in the process of "stress"-"inflammation"-"comorbidity",from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) basic theory in combination with our previous 20-year findings.Notably,the neural-psychiatric comorbidity between psychiatric disorders,including depression,schizophrenia and anxiety,and systemic diseases,such as ischemic stroke,Alzheimer's disease (AD) and asthma,have something in common in the pathophysiological mechanism.The stress-induced structural and functional changes in the brain,the stress-initiated diversely structural and neurobiological changes in neurocircuitry,and the stress-mediated neurochemical alterations in neurotransmitter are considered to be involved in the common pathophysiological mechanisms in the neural-psychiatric comorbidity,which initiates a cascade of physiological and psychological processes that contributes to the development of various types of neuropsychiatric disorders.Accordingly,it will be of great significance to investigate mechanisms underlying the neuropsychiatric comorbidity in the process of "stress"-"inflammation"-"comorbidity" under the guidance of the basic theory of "treating disease from the root" and "same treatment for different diseases" in TCM.