Mild Mechanic Stimulate on Acupoints Regulation of CGRP-Positive Cells and Microglia Morphology in Spinal Cord of Sciatic Nerve Injured Rats

Abstract

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to observe the effects of mild mechanical stimulation on acupuncture points of spinal motor neurons and active substances of sciatic nerve injury in rats, and to explore the morphological basis for the recovery of motor function in rats with sciatic nerve injury, using mild acupuncture. Acupuncture in the local area of injury may cause further damage to the peripheral nerve injury. We believe that mild mechanical stimulation on the surface, using some specific acupuncture points can also have a positive effect on nerve repair. This method, called Chinese tuina, has existed for more than 2,000 years in China.MethodsThis study establishes a rat model using sciatic nerve crush injury. Rats received Chinese tuina in accordance with the principle of the three methods and three points, once a day, for 20 days. The rats’ status of hindlimb recovery was detected by a sciatic functional index. The labeled neuronal cell body was used to evaluate the fiber recovery after the rats’ sciatic nerve injury, using a neural tracing technique. Our team studied motor neuronal cell bodies, CGRP-positive cells, and the microglia of damaged sciatic nerves which were stained with fluorescent triple staining, adopting a confocal multi-layer scanning technique, and then the changes in neuronal activity distribution and expression, and changes of time and treatment were described, using the method of morphological description.ResultsSciatic nerve injury decreased the survival rate of motor neurons, affected CGRP-positive cells, and activated microglia in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. Compared with the model group, the survival of spinal ventral horn motor neurons was increased through tuina intervention. The swelling of CGRP-positive cells was alleviated, and the degree of microglia activation was less than that of the model group.ConclusionThis study used visual morphological findings to assess changes in neurons and active substances with time after injury of the peripheral nerve, and demonstrated that peripheral mild acupuncture intervention improved the capacity of neurofibrillary axoplasmic transport, regulated microglia activation, and significantly promoted the recovery of sciatic nerve injury.

ChIP-seq Profiling Identifies Histone Deacetylase 2 Targeting Genes Involved in Immune and Inflammatory Regulation Induced by Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide in Microglial Cells

“…CGRP operates via its receptor that, in many cell types, leads to a range of biological effects including those associated with neurons and microglia [ 6 , 7 ]. A functional CGRP receptor consist of 3 components, the calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CRLR), receptor activity-modifying protein 1 (RAMP1), and CGRP receptor component protein (CRCP) that couple the receptor to the cellular signal pathway leading to increased intracellular cAMP and activated protein kinase A (PKA) [ 8 ].…”

Correlated Sensory and Sympathetic Innervation Between the Acupoint BL23 and Kidney in the Rat

“…As a sensitive bio-marker, CGRP expresses on the sensory nerve fibers that are widely distributed in the skin and visceral tissues (Eftekhari et al, 2013 ; Carr and Frings, 2019 ; Li et al, 2019 ; Smolilo et al, 2020 ). Previous studies have shown that CGRP-positive nerve fibers originate from the sensory neurons in DRGs and distribute widely in the local skin tissues of acupoints and the visceral tissues (Ha et al, 2014 ; Fan et al, 2018 ; De Logu et al, 2019 ).…”

An Investigation into the Rehabilitative Mechanism of Tuina in the Treatment of Sciatic Nerve Injury

“…Rats were subjected to fasting and water prohibition for 24°h before the surgery [15] and were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of 1% pentobarbital sodium (0.35 mL/100 g).…”

“…Tuina can promote the regeneration of the myelin sheath and axons of the sciatic nerve fiber in SNI rats, alleviate the edema of Schwann cell cytoplasm and mitochondria, and promote the repair and regeneration of the injured nerve ultrastructure [13]. Tuina can improve the behavioral indexes of SNI rats, promote the expression of neurotrophic factors (NTFS), protect neurons, prevent muscle atrophy, and significantly promote the recovery of SNI [14,15]. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is a technique for sequence detection from transcriptional information formed into the transcription process of specific tissues and cell types.…”