Abstract
Pain is a complex physiological and psychological activity, involving at least three dimensions, including pain sensation, pain emotion, and pain cognition. Acupuncture can clearly relieve the pain sensation of patients and improve pain emotion and pain cognition induced by pain; acupuncture participates in the multi-dimensional regulation of pain through brain regions of the limbic system such as anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), amygdala (AMY), and hippocampus. By analyzing relevant literature, it has been found that the regulation of acupuncture on pain emotion is mainly related to the activation of pertinent opioid receptors in the ACC, the decrease of the expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and the promotion of the expression of glutamic acid (Glu) A1, metabotropic glutamate receptor-1 (mGluR1), and γ-aminobutyric acid aminobutyric acid (GABA) B2 protein in the AMY. The regulation of acupuncture on pain cognition is mainly related to the elevation of the expression of protein kinase A (PKA) and phospho-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (phospho-p38 MAPK) and the inhibition of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/PKA/cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway in the ACC.
摘要
疼痛是一种复杂生理、心理活动, 至少涉及痛感觉、痛情绪和痛认知三个维度。针刺可以明显减轻疼痛患者的痛感觉, 改善疼痛所诱发的痛情绪和痛认知; 其通过边缘系统的前扣带回皮层(ACC)、杏仁核(AMY)、海马等脑区参与介导了对疼痛的多维度调节。通过对相关文献分析, 发现针刺对痛情绪的调节主要与激活ACC内相关阿片受体, 下调细胞外信号调节激酶(ERK)的表达, 促进AMY内谷氨酸(Glu)A1、代谢性谷氨酸受体1(mGluR1)、γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)B2蛋白的表达密切相关; 针刺对痛认知的调节主要与上调海马内蛋白激酶A(PKA)、磷酸化p38丝裂原活化蛋白激酶(phospho-p38 MAPK)的表达及抑制ACC内环磷酸腺苷(cAMP)/PKA/cAMP反应元件结合蛋白(CREB)信号通路关系密切。
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by 2021 Scientific Planning Project of Gansu Province (2021 年甘肃省科技计划项目; No. 21JR1RA266); Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (国家自然科学基金项目, No. 81460744).
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First Author: MA Cui, doctor degree candidate
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Ma, C., Zou, Y., Ye, Y. et al. Progress in the mechanism of acupuncture intervention on pain emotion and pain cognition mediated by limbic system. J. Acupunct. Tuina. Sci. 20, 499–504 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11726-022-1351-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11726-022-1351-3
Keywords
- Acupuncture Therapy
- Acupuncture Analgesia
- Pain
- Limbic System
- Gyrus Cinguli
- Amygdala
- Hippocampus
- Receptors, Opioid