Acupuncture Relieves Cervical Spondylosis Radiculopathy by Regulating Spinal Microglia Activation Through MAPK Signaling Pathway in Rats

Abstract

Purpose

Local acupuncture has been found to have a good analgesic effect in rats with cervical spondylosis radiculopathy (CSR), but it lacks a regulatory effect on traditional Chinese medicine syndrome types of CSR. We proposed “Invigorating Qi and activating Blood” (IQAB) acupuncture, compared with Fenbid, and local electroacupuncture (LEA), to observe whether it has advantages in the protection of the CSR rat model and to elucidate its mechanism through the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signaling pathway.

Materials and Methods

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups: control, sham, model, Fenbid, LEA, and IQAB. The CSR model was induced by inserting nylon sutures to compress the C₄-T₁ nerve root. The Fenbid group was treated with ibuprofen sustained-release capsules (15 mg/kg·d, ig). The LEA group received electroacupuncture at both C₅ and C₇ EX-B2 once a day. The IQAB group received acupuncture at both ST36 and BL17 based on the LEA group’s intervention. Mechanical allodynia and gait, morphological changes in the spinal cord, IL-6 and TNF-α levels, MAPKs phosphorylation ratio, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in the spinal cord, and the expression of p-p38 in the spinal cord and its colocalization with neurons and glial cell activation markers were detected.

Results

Mechanical allodynia, gait disorder, edema, reduced Nissl-positive cell numbers, and increased IL-6 and TNF-α levels in the spinal cord were observed in CSR rats. IQAB significantly alleviated these changes, and the effects were generally comparable to those of Fenbid. Meanwhile, the phosphorylation ratios of p38 and extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK), co-expression of p-p38 with neuron/microglia, and MCP-1 levels in the spinal cord were markedly down-regulated by IQAB compared with those in CSR model rats.

Conclusion

IQAB reduced p38-activation-related microglia activation and MCP-1 levels, thus alleviating pathological changes, inflammation levels in the local spinal cord, and pain behavior of CSR.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• analgesia
• mitogen activated protein kinases
• inflammatory cytokine
• chemokine
• MCP-1

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82174505) and the University Transverse Development Fund of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (No. 2030071720017). Funding support did not affect the statistical analysis of objective data or their reports.