Acupuncture blocks cold stress-induced increases in the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis in the rat

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   Figure 1

   (A and B) Effect of EA given before and concomitantly with chronic cold stress on HPA hormones. (A) Plasma ACTH levels: on day 7, all three experimental groups had significantly higher ACTH levels than the control group (*P<0.05). However, by day 14, plasma ACTH levels in the stress-only and the stress+Sham-EA animals were significantly higher than the control animals (*P<0.05). In sharp contrast, EA St₃₆ prevented this increase when compared with the stress-only animals (^#P<0.05). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the ACTH plasma levels of the ST₃₆ animal compared with the controls. (B) Serum CORT levels: The serum CORT levels in the stress-only and Sham-EA animals were again significantly elevated when compared with control animals (*P<0.05). EA St₃₆ prevented this elevation when compared with the stress-only and stress+Sham-EA serum CORT levels (^#P<0.05). EA St₃₆ had effectively prevented the stress-induced increases in serum CORT to levels similar to the control animals. (C) Plasma NE levels: there were no significant differences noted in the plasma NE levels of the four study groups.
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   Figure 2

   Effect of EA on CRH message in the PVN of chronically stressed rats. Crh mRNA (normalized by GAPDH) was significantly higher in the stress-only and stress+Sham-EA animals when compared with the control animals (*P<0.05). Conversely, this was not observed when evaluating the Crh mRNA levels of the EA St₃₆ group to that of the control animals.
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   Figure 3

   (A and B) Effect of EA on CRH protein expression in the PVN of chronically stressed rats. CRH immunoreactivity was significantly higher in the stress-only and the stress+Sham-EA animals when compared with the control group (*P<0.01). EA St₃₆ prevented this increase (^#P<0.05). 3V, 3rd ventricle.
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   Figure 4

   (A and B) Effect of EA on adrenal NPY and TH expression. (A) Adrenal NPY levels: adrenal NPY levels of the stress-only and stress+Sham-EA animals were significantly higher than those of the control animals (*P<0.05). By contrast, EA St₃₆ prevented this increase (^#P<0.05) such that Npy mRNA was similar to that of the control animals. (B) Adrenal TH expression: there were no significant variations noted in the adrenal TH expression when comparing groups.
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   Figure 5

   Rat acupuncture point map. The circles mark the sham and acupuncture points St₃₆.

• © 2013 Society for Endocrinology