| Depression is very harmful to human’s physical and mental health. The patients are characterized by long lasting low mood, and symptoms such as insomnia, loss of appetite, etc. It even leads to self-injury and suicide. At present, the antidepressant drugs are the mainstream therapy for depression, but they still can not obtain satisfactory results, and have adverse reactions. Clinical practice has shown that acupuncture treatment of depression has better effect in improving somatic symptoms and quality of life in patients with mild and moderate depression. Nowadays, the acupuncture treatment of depression has been gradually known and accepted by people, but its mechanism needs to be further studied.In recent years, inflammatory cytokines and celluar signal transduction pathways attract increasing attention when it comes to the pathogenesis of depression. One of the most important is the NF-κB signaling pathway. NF-κB is the key factor which leads to neural damage and depression. Previous research has shown that inflammatory cytokines was significantly increased in chronic stress rat’s hippocampus, and could be reversed by acupuncture therapy. But it’s still unknown whether acupuncture influence NF-κB signaling pathway.Objective:This study was to investigate the possible mechanism of acupuncture on depression. We observed the behaviors and the key compenents of the NF-κB signal pathway in a chronic stress rat model of depression.Methods:1.36 Male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:nomal group, model group, acupuncture group and fluoxetine group.2. The CUMS rat model of depression was used in the study.3. The Acupuncture was given once every other day on "Baihui" and "Nei-guan". Fluoxetine was given once a day.4.The body weight, sucrose consumption and open field test of rats were used to indicate the general condition,the anhedonia and locomotor activity of the rats.5. The NF-κB expression in hippocampus was measured by Western blot, COX-2 mRNA was detected by RT-PCR and contents of COX-2 and PGE2 were measured by ELISA.Results:1. Effects of acupuncture on the behaviors of rats.(1) Body weight:Before the start of the experiments, the body weight of the rats had no significant difference between the groups(P>0.05). At the first week of the experiments, compared with the normal group, the weight of the model group was significantly decreased, which lasted for four weeks (P<0.01). Compared with model group, in the first three weeks, the body weight of the acupuncture group and fluoxetine group was increased slightly but had no significant difference(P>0.05).At the fourth week, the body weight of the acupuncture group and the fluoxetine group was significantly increased (P<0.01,0.01).(2) Sucrose test:Before the start of the experiment, the sucrose intake of the rats had no significant difference between the groups (P>0.05). At the end of the experiment, compared with the normal group,the sucrose intake of the model group was significantly decreased (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the sucrose intake of the acupuncture group and the fluoxetine group was significantly increased (P<0.01,0.01).(3) Open field test:At the end of the experiment, compared with the normal group, both of the crossing numbers and rearing numbers in the model group were significantly decreased (P<0.05,0.05). Compared with model group, the rearing numbers in acupuncture and fluoxetine group was significantly increased (P<0.05, 0.05) as well as the crossing numbers(P<0.01,0.01).2. Effects of acupuncture on NF-κB expression level in the hippocampus.Compared with normal group, the expression level of NF-κB in model group was significantly increased in hippocampus (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the expression level of NF-κB in the acupuncture group and fluoxetine group were significantly decreased(P<0.01,0.01).3. Effects of acupuncture on COX-2 mRNA and COX-2 contents.Compared with normal group, the expression of COX-2 mRNA in the model group was significantly increased in hippocampus (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the content of COX-2 mRNA in the acupuncture group and the fluoxetine group was significantly decreased (P<0.05,0.01).Effects of acupuncture on COX-2 were detected by ELISA. Compared with the normal group, the content of COX-2 in the model group was significantly increased in hippocampus (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the content of COX-2 in the acupuncture group and the fluoxetine group were significantly decreased in the hippocampus (P<0.05,0.01).4. Effects of acupuncture on PGE2 contents.Compared with the normal group, the content of PGE2 in the model group was significantly increased in the hippocampus (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the content of PGE2 in the acupuncture group and the fluoxetine group were significantly decreased in the hippocampus (P<0.01,0.01).Conclusions:1. The chronic stress caused depressive condition and these behavioral changes could be improved by acupuncture and fluoxetine treatment.2. The CUMS resulted in increased expression of NF-κB, COX-2, PGE2 in rats’hippocampus,which could be reversed by acupuncture and fluoxetine.3. Ours results showed that acupuncture "Baihui", "Neiguan" could relieve depressive behavior to some extent, and it could downregulate the key compenents of NF-κB signaling pathway (NF-κB,COX-2,PGE2). Therefore, one of the antidepressive mechanisms of acupuncture might be related to it’s alleviating the the inflammatory damage to the brain. This will improve scientific connotation in acupuncture refreshing brain method, and lay the foundation for further understanding the mechanism of acupuncture treatment of depression.
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