Effect of Iontophoretic Etorphine and Electroacupuncture on Nociceptive Response from Nucleus Lateralis Anterialis of Thalamus in Rabbits

Abstract

German

French

Two kinds of neuronal responses, excitation and inhibition evoked by strong electric shock stimulation of sural nerve, were recorded from the nucleus lateralis anterialis (n. LA) and sites nearby in the thalamus. Etorphine, when administrated iontophoretically, produced a naloxone-reversed depression on the response in all of the 45 excitatory units tested; whereas iontophoretic naloxone released 17 out of 19 inhibitory units from inhibition. Electroacupuncture depressed the excitatory response in 15 of 17 units tested; this acupunctural depression was reversed by iontophoretic naloxone in three out of five units. Electroacupuncture released from inhibition 7 of 8 units tested. The results indicate that the nociceptive responses in n. LA of the thalamus are possibly controlled by interactions of endorphins and opiate receptors and are both attenuated by electroacupuncture.

Keywords

Electroacupuncture Thalamus N. Lateralis Anterialis Nociceptive Response Etorphine Naloxone

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Mayer

.: Antagonism of acupuncture analgesia is man by the nar-cotic antagonist naloxone. Brain Res. 121 (1977) 368

Zhang Anzhong, .: Endorphins and acupuncture analgesia. Chinese Medical Journal 93 (1980) 673

Fifkova

and Marsala

: Stereotaxic atlases for the cat, rabbit and rat. In Bures J . (Eds.), Electrophysiological methods in biological re-search, 2nd edition. Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague 1962, p. 426.

Sun

Mingzhi

, .: Effect of acupuncture on unit discharge in n. para- fascularis of rat thalamus. Acta Physiologica Sinica 32 (1980) 207

Peele

: The dorsal thalamus. In Peele

(Ed.), The neuroanatomic basis for clinical neurology. 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill, 1977, p. 292

8 (1981) 14 Cao

Xiaoding

.: Relationship between the efficacy of acupuncture analgesia and the sympathetic functional activity. Acta Academiae Medi- cinae Primae Shanghai Wang GH: The galvanic skin reflex. A review of old and recent works from a physiologic point of view. Amer J. Physic. Med. 36 (1957) 295 91971, p.61.

Omura

: Patho-physiology of acupuncture treatment: effects of acupuncture on cardiovascular and nervous systems. Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research, The International Journal 1 (1975), pp. 51–141.

Omura

: Pain threshold measurement before and after acupuncture: contro-versial results of radiant heart method and electrical method, and the roles of ACTH-like substances and endorphins. Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research, The International Journal 3 (1978), pp. 1–21.

Zhang

An-Zhong

: Endorphin and acupuncture analgesia research in the People's Republic of China (1975-1979), Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research, The International Journal 5 (1980), pp. 131–146.