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Electroacupuncture Alleviates Motor Symptoms and Up-Regulates Vesicular Glutamatergic Transporter 1 Expression in the Subthalamic Nucleus in a Unilateral 6-Hydroxydopamine-Lesioned Hemi-Parkinsonian Rat Model

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Abstract

Previous studies have shown that electroacupuncture (EA) promotes recovery of motor function in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However the mechanisms are not completely understood. Clinically, the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a critical target for deep brain stimulation treatment of PD, and vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGluT1) plays an important role in the modulation of glutamate in the STN derived from the cortex. In this study, a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rat model of PD was treated with 100 Hz EA for 4 weeks. Immunohistochemical analysis of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) showed that EA treatment had no effect on TH expression in the ipsilateral striatum or substantia nigra pars compacta, though it alleviated several of the parkinsonian motor symptoms. Compared with the hemi-parkinsonian rats without EA treatment, the 100 Hz EA treatment significantly decreased apomorphine-induced rotation and increased the latency in the Rotarod test. Notably, the EA treatment reversed the 6-OHDA-induced down-regulation of VGluT1 in the STN. The results demonstrated that EA alleviated motor symptoms and up-regulated VGluT1 in the ipsilateral STN of hemi-parkinsonian rats, suggesting that up-regulation of VGluT1 in the STN may be related to the effects of EA on parkinsonian motor symptoms via restoration of function in the cortico-STN pathway.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Z161100002616007), the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFC1306300), the Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81527901), and the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (7082008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China

    Yanyan Wang, Junhua Liu & Xiaomin Wang

  2. Department of Physiology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China

    Yong Wang

  3. Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Disorders, The Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, 100069, China

    Yanyan Wang, Yong Wang, Junhua Liu & Xiaomin Wang

  4. Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, 100069, China

    Yanyan Wang, Yong Wang, Junhua Liu & Xiaomin Wang

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  1. Yanyan Wang
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  2. Yong Wang
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Correspondence to Yong Wang or Xiaomin Wang.

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Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Liu, J. et al. Electroacupuncture Alleviates Motor Symptoms and Up-Regulates Vesicular Glutamatergic Transporter 1 Expression in the Subthalamic Nucleus in a Unilateral 6-Hydroxydopamine-Lesioned Hemi-Parkinsonian Rat Model. Neurosci. Bull. 34, 476–484 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-018-0213-y

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