Journal of Neuroimmunology
Volume 220, Issue 1 , Pages 25-33, 30 March 2010

The effect of electroacupuncture on T cell responses in rats with experimental autoimmune encephalitis

Department of Neurobiology, Harbin Medical University, Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, 157 Bao Jian Road, Harbin 150081, China

Received 17 September 2009; received in revised form 9 December 2009; accepted 9 December 2009. published online 01 February 2010.

Abstract 

Successive electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation on Zusanli ST36 acupoints of rats with experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), which is an inflammatory disease mediated by autoreactive T cells, relieved disease severity, inhibited specific T cell proliferation and rebuilt the CD4+ T cell subset balance. In addition, EA-treated rats had significantly higher ACTH concentrations in vivo compared to untreated EAE rats. These results indicated that EA stimulation could relieve the severity of EAE by restoring balance to the Th1/Th2/Th17/Treg Th cell subset responses by stimulating the hypothalamus to increase ACTH secretion.

Keywords: Electroacupuncture (EA), Experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), Helper T cell (Th cell), ST36 acupoint

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PII: S0165-5728(09)00488-3

doi:10.1016/j.jneuroim.2009.12.005

Journal of Neuroimmunology
Volume 220, Issue 1 , Pages 25-33, 30 March 2010

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