Substance P and beta endorphin mediate electroacupuncture induced analgesic activity in mouse cancer pain model.

Substance P and beta endorphin mediate electroacupuncture induced analgesic activity in mouse cancer pain model. Acupunct Electrother Res. 2009;34(1-2):27-40 Authors: Lee HJ, Lee JH, Lee EO, Lee HJ, Kim KH, Lee KS, Lee CH, Nam DW, Kim SH, Lee HJ, Ahn KS Abstract Cancer pain impairs the quality of life of cancer patients, but opioid analgesics can not only cause inhibition of respiratory function, and constipation, but also other significant side effects such as addiction and tolerance that further decrease quality of life. Thus, in the present study, the effects of electro-acupuncture treatment (EA) on mechanical allodynia were examined in cancer pain mouse model. In order to induce neuropathic cancer pain model, S-180 sarcoma cells were inoculated around the sciatic nerve of left legs of Balb/c mice. The mass of S-180 cancer cells embedded around sciatic nerve in a time course was confirmed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning. Mechanical allodynia was most consistently induced in mouse sarcoma cell line S-180 (2 x 10(6) sarcoma cells) treated group among all groups. EA stimulation (2Hz) was daily given to ST36 (Zusanli) of S-180 bearing mice for 30 min for 9 days after S-180 inoculation. EA treatment significantly prolonged paw withdrawal latency from 5 days after inoculation as well as shortened cumulative lifting duration from 7 days after inoculation compared with tumor control. In addition, the overexpressions of pain p...
Source: Acupuncture and Electro-Therapeutics Research - Category: Complementary Medicine Tags: Acupunct Electrother Res Source Type: research