| Acupuncture is an important complementary and alternative medicine, which has good therapy results for some kinds of diseases, such as chronic pain. The mechanisms of acupuncture are still unclear. Studying the mechanisms of acupuncture could be helpful to understand the role of acupuncture and to push forward the research of acupuncture meridian and to improve the development of traditional Chinese medicine.Optical techniques had been utilized to study the cellular response to acupuncture in this work. Firstly, the nitric oxide (NO, which plays a crucial role in many acupuncture therapies) in live cells was measured by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The concentrations of NO in different kinds of cells were compared. Secondly, the modulation of NO on the calcium in Hela cells was investigated. The results showed that NO could increase the concentration of calcium by calcium influx and calcium release from intracellular calcium storages. Calcium releasing from intracellular calcium storages is dominant. And mitochondrion is one of the calcium storages that take part in the modulation of NO. Thirdly, the role of adenosine in laser acupuncture was revealed by measuring the dynamics of cAMP by bioluminescence resonance energy transfer. The results indicated that laser irradiation could inhibit the level of cAMP in light dose dependent manner. Moreover, A3receptor antagonist could enhance the inhibition of laser irradiation. Finally, simulation of the effect of laser irradiation on action potential characteristics was performed. The simulation results showed that laser irradiation could decrease the period of action potential. The effect of laser irradiation on action potential transmission is depended on the light dose, which could play inhibition or stimulation role.This work revealed preliminarily the cellular response of acupuncture effects. It is undoubtedly helpful to understand the mechanism of acupuncture on the cellular and molecular level. |
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