Effect of electroacupuncture on the A20/NF-κB/NLRP3/GSDMD signaling pathway in rats with primary dysmenorrhea

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of electroacupuncture （EA） at “Guanyuan” （CV4） and “Sanyinjiao” （SP6） on the ubiquitin-editing enzyme A20 （A20）/nuclear factor-κB （NF-κB）/NOD-like receptor protein 3 （NLRP3）/Gasdermin D （GSDMD） signaling pathway in rats with primary dysmenorrhea （PDM）.MethodsFemale naive SD rats were randomly divided into blank， model， EA and medication groups （n=6 per group）. PDM rat model was established by subcutaneous injection of estradiol benzoate combined with intraperitoneal injection of oxytocin. EA （50 Hz） was applied to CV4 and bilateral SP6 of rats in the EA group， with needles retained for 20 min， once daily for 10 consecutive days. Rats in the medication group received ibuprofen（125 mg/100 mL， 0.8 mL） by gavage for 10 consecutive days. At the 11th day， writhing behavior of rats was assessed. Uterine pathology was assessed by HE staining. Serum contents of prostaglandin F2α （PGF2α） and tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α） were measured by ELISA. Protein expression of A20， phosphorylated NF-κB p65 （p-NF-κB p65）， NF-κB p65， NLRP3， Caspase-1， Interleukin （IL）-1β， GSDMD， and GSDMD N-terminal domain （GSDMD-N） in uterine tissue were detected by Western blot.ResultsCompared with the blank group， the writhing times， scores， and latency period， the contents of PGF2α and TNF-α in serum， and the protein expression levels of p-NF-κB p65， NF-κB p65， NLRP3， Caspase-1， IL-1β， GSDMD， and GSDMD-N in the uterine tissues of rats in the model group were all significantly increased （PPPPPPConclusionEA intervention can effectively relieve inflammatory response in PDM rats， which may be associated with its effect in activating the A20-mediated NF-κB negative feedback pathway and inhibiting the NF-κB/NLRP3/GSDMD signaling pathway.