Author: Choi YJ1, Kim NJ1, Zhao RJ2, Kim DH1, Yang CH3, Kim HY3, Gwak YS3, Jang EY3, Kim JS1, Lee YK1, Lee HJ1, Lee SN4, Lim SC5, Lee BH6
Affiliation:
1Department of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Acupoint, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu 42158, Republic of Korea.
2School of Mental Health, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, 161006, China.
3Department of Physiology, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu 42158, Republic of Korea.
4Department of Qigong, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu 42158, Republic of Korea.
5Department of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Acupoint, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu 42158, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: now123@dreamwiz.com.
6Department of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Acupoint, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu 42158, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: dlqhdgy@dhu.ac.kr.
Conference/Journal: Neurosci Lett.
Date published: 2017 Oct 10
Other:
Volume ID: 662 , Pages: 65-70 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.10.015. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 257
OBJECTIVES: Methamphetamine is one of the widely abused drugs. In spite of a number of studies, there is still little successful therapy to suppress the methamphetamine abuse. Acupuncture has shown to attenuate the reinforcing effects of psychostimulant. Based on, the present study investigated if acupuncture could suppress intravenous methamphetamine self-administration behavior. In addition, a possible neuronal mechanism was investigated.
MATERIALS & METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 270-300g were trained to intake food pellet. After catheter implantation, animal was trained to self-administer methamphetamine (0.05mg/kg) intravenously using fixed ratio 1 schedule in daily 2h session during 3 weeks. After training, rats who established baseline (infusion variation less than 20% of the mean for 3 consecutive days) received acupuncture treatment on the next day. Acupuncture was performed at each acupoint manually. In the second experiment, the selective antagonists of GABAA or GABAB receptor were given before acupuncture to investigate the possible neuronal involvement of GABA receptor pathway in the acupuncture effects. C-Fos expression was examined in the nucleus accumbens to support behavioral data.
RESULTS: Acupuncture at HT7, but not at control acupoint LI5, reduced the self-administration behavior significantly. Also, the effects of acupuncture were blocked by the GABA receptor antagonists. C-Fos expression was shown to be parallel with the behavioral data.
CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study have shown that acupuncture at HT7 suppressed methamphetamine self-administration through GABA receptor system, suggesting that acupuncture at HT7 can be a useful therapy for the treatment of methamphetamine abuse.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Acupuncture; GABA; HT7; Methamphetamine; Self-administration
PMID: 29030218 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.10.015
