Early intervention with electroacupuncture prevents PTSD-like behaviors in rats through enhancing hippocampal endocannabinoid signaling

Publication date: Available online 1 April 2019Source: Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological PsychiatryAuthor(s): Fen Xue, Shan-shan Xue, Ling Liu, Han-fei Sang, Quan-rui Ma, Qing-rong Tan, Hua-ning Wang, Cui-hong Zhou, Zheng-wu PengAbstractElectroacupuncture (EA) is a clinically useful physiological therapy that has been recently adopted to treat several brain disorders. However, the potential role of early EA intervention in the prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as its potential cellular and molecular mechanism has never been investigated previously. In the present study, we used an enhanced single prolonged stress (ESPS) model to access the effects of early EA intervention on the prevention of anxiety-like and fear learning behaviors, as well as the influence of the expression of post-synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95), synaptophysin (Syn), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), diacylglycerol lipase alpha (DAGLα) and cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R) in the hippocampus with or without DAGLα or CB1R knockdown by a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in the hippocampus. Moreover, the effects of electrical stimulation with different parameters on the expression of DAGLα and CB1R in the hippocampal astrocytes were also observed. The results showed that Early EA intervention improved hippocampal synaptic plasticity and ameliorated PTSD-like behaviors and also increased expression of BDNF, DAGLα and CB1R. However, either DAGLα or CB1R knoc...
Source: Progress in Neuro Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research