Study Of Regulation On Immune System In Rats Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome With Acupuncture

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is manifested in long term of extreme exhaustion, which occurs mostly among women at the age of 20 to 50.CFS is a sub-health issue which arouse most of the attention on human health in 21st century. In Chinese Medicine, we treat CFS in the principle of deficiency and exhaustion, insomnia and palpitation. As the pathogenesis is uncertain, no particular treatment has been proven. CFS is related to multiple factors such as the long-term mental stimulation, intellectual and physical exhaustion and viral infections, also with a certain degree of neuro-endocrine-immune dysfunction. Acupuncture has been proven effective in regulating nervous, endocrine and immune system with no side effect. Our study is to explore the mechanism of regulation on CFS with acupuncture, based on the principles of randomized controlledObjectiveExplore the mechanism of regulation on CFS with acupuncture by observing changes of body weights, behavioral changes, IFN-γand IL-1βlevels of rats.Methods40 SD rats were randomly divided into model group, acupuncture, panaxoside and blank group. CFS model were induced under chronic restraint and repeated forced cold water swimming (RFCWS) stress. Acupuncture group were taking acupoints in reference of Experimental Acupuncture and Jin-3-needle Q & A with graphic of four ponits for shen, three points on temporal(both sides) and Yongquan (bilateral). Panaxoside group was given panaxoside by gavage. Blank group and model group received no treatment. Data on behavior evaluation and weights were collected one month later. Levels of IFN-γand IL-1βwere tested after beheading. Results1. Weight:1 day after modeling, the rats were no significant differences in body weight among 4 groups. At the end of experiment, rats in model group were lower in food and water intake, with dull hair, and obvious weight loss in compare with blank group, (P<0.01);and with acupuncture group and the Panaxoside group (P<0.05).2. Behavior changes:In Open-field tests:rats in model group have fewer horizontal and vertical movements compared with the rest 3 groups (P<0.01), in which acupuncture and Panaxoside group can help elevated. Rat tail suspension test:rats in model group have longer still time compared with the rest 3 groups (P<0.01),in which acupuncture and Panaxoside group can help elevated. 3. Serum IFN-γand IL-1βlevels:Model group manifested in lower IFN-γand higher IL-1βin comparison to the reat 3 groups(P<0.01).Conclusion1. Acupuncture can increase the weights of rats with chronic fatigue and improve their emotional reactions and to increase their exploratory behavior, indicating thatacupuncture can increase the strength in rats with chronic fatigue and nervous system excitability, increase their spontaneous activities.2. Acupuncture can reduce the IFN-γand IL-1βlevels, suggesting that its anti-stress, anti-fatigue mechanism may be related to regulation of the immune cells...