Transcript Profiling of Periaqueductal Gray in Response to Electroacupuncture on Rats

The electroacupuncture-induced analgesic effect has been used widely to alleviate diverse pains. However, significant individual variations in analgesic effect of EA for both experiments and clinics were reported. According to the sensitivity of the analgesic response to EA stimulation, the subjects could be categorized into high responders (HR) and low responders (NR). However, the molecular mechanism of individual variability in the analgesic response to acupuncture stimulation is still uncertain. This study aims to investigate the potential gene expression in spinal dorsal horn induced by 2Hz/100Hz electroacupuncture in HR and NR rats. Rats were given 2Hz or 100Hz electroacupuncture for 30 min and using cDNA microarrays to compare different gene expression in dorsal horn. Transcriptome profiling analysis found that some co-regulated genes related with electroacupuncture or 2Hz or 100Hz fruqencies. These co-regulated genes were plasticity-related by GO analysis.电针（electroacupuncture）诱导的镇痛效应已被广泛应用于缓解各类疼痛。然而，现有研究表明，无论是在实验还是临床场景中，电针的镇痛效果均存在显著的个体差异。根据受试大鼠对电针刺激的镇痛反应敏感性，可将其分为高反应者（high responders, HR）与低反应者（low responders, NR）。但目前，电针刺激引发的镇痛反应的个体差异的分子机制仍未阐明。本研究旨在探究高、低反应大鼠脊髓背角中，经2Hz/100Hz电针刺激后潜在的基因表达变化。实验过程中，研究者对大鼠施加2Hz或100Hz的电针刺激30分钟，并通过cDNA微阵列（cDNA microarray）技术比较脊髓背角的差异基因表达情况。转录组表达谱分析发现，存在部分与电针刺激、2Hz或100Hz频率相关的共调控基因。经基因本体（Gene Ontology, GO）分析证实，此类共调控基因与可塑性过程相关。