The Effect Of Electro-acupuncture At Zusanli Point On Nitric Oxide Synthase In The Nucleis Of Central Nervous System Of Rats Model Of Stress Ulcer

The effect of electro-acupuncture at Zusanli Point on Nitric Oxide Synthase in the nucleis of Central Nervous System of ratsmodel of stress ulcerBackground and Objective Zusanli Point is a point of the stomach channel of foot-yangming. Acupuncture at Zusanli Point is a effective method to treat disease of gastrointestinal tract such as gastric ulcer, gastritis. There must be some connective links between Zusanli and stomach. The studies had done before have proved that electro-acupuncture at Zusanli Point can prevent the stress ulcer of rats. But how the electro-acupuncture does its effect is unknown. There are many researchers who studied on how the electro-acupuncture does its effect believed that the neurotransmitter in central nervous system(CNS) should be the important substance. The stress is a long strong response which happened while organism suffer from the harmful stimulus. The hypothalamus paraventricular nucleus(PVN) and nucleus tractus solitarii(NTS) are the CNS point which regulate the stress response. Locus ceruleus, the nucleus of sensory nerve of viscera, is also relation to stress.Endogenous nitric oxide(NO), a new style neurotransmitter, has been found in many nuclei in CNS such as PVN, NTS and LC. NO is produced by nitric oxide synthase(NOS) which catalyse the substrateL-arginine. So the content of NO depends on the activity of NOS. NOS can be displayed by histochemical method of nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide phosphate desaturase (NADPH-d). Some researchers have proved that the content of NOS in brain of rat has remarkable rise after the rats had been stressed for 7 hours and the rise can be prevented by electro-acupuncture atZusanli before stress. The objective of this study is to observe the effect of electro-acupuncture at Zusanli on Nitric Oxide Synthase in the nucleus of CNS of rats model of stress ulcer including of PVN, NTS and LC.Methods Sixty SD rats , were divided into five groups. Group A: blank control group; Group B: stress group; Group C: electro-acupuncture at Zusanli group; Group D: L-NAME group; Group E: electro-acupuncture at Zusanli and L-NAME group, we used the restraint-immersing water model of rats and Guth's method to calculate the Ulcer Index(UI). The brain slices were dyed by histochemical method(NADPH-d) then observed and analyzed with the image analysis system which is produced by the Beijing university of aeronautics and astronautics.Results ㏕he gastric UI of rats in stress group is more severe than blank control group, electro-acupuncture group, L-NAME group and electro-acupuncture and L-NAME group. The result shows that the electro-acupuncture at Zusanli is a efficient method to prevent stress ulcer.㏕he express of NOS in PVN: The integral optical density(IOD) of slice in stress group is remarkable different from the IOD in blank control group, electro-acupuncture group, L-NAME group and electro-acupuncture and L-NAME group. That result also shows that the increased express of NOS induced by stress can be inhibited by electro-acupuncture at Zusanli just before stress. ㏕he express of NOS in NTS: The IOD of NTS which is a sensory nerve nucleus yet is as same as that of PVN. It can be supposed that the prevention to stress ulcer of electro-acupuncture at Zusanli inhibit the increased NOS which is induced by input of impulse caused by gastric ulcer. ㏕he express of NOS in LC: The IOD of LC in each group is non-significant difference. It shows that the NO positive neuron is not relative to the stress reaction and the regulation of electro-acupuncture.Conclusion Electro-acupuncture at Zusanli Point can prevent the stress ulcer of rats. NO positive neurons in PVN and NTS have played an important role in this process. It is NO positive neuron in PVN and NTS that is the one of connective links between Zusanli and stomach.