Electroacupuncture at "Zusanli"(ST36) promotes gastrointestinal motility possibly by suppres-sing excessive autophagy via AMPK/ULK1 signaling in rats with functional dyspepsia

Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research
Xiao-Li PanLi Zhou

Abstract

To explore the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) at "Zusanli" (ST36) on gastrointestinal motility and expression of autophagy marker LC3 and autophagy signaling pathway molecule AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in rats with functional dyspepsia (FD), so as to explore its mechanisms underlying improvement of FD. A total of 40 male SD rats were randomly divided into blank control, model, EA, AMPK inhibitor and EA+AMPK inhibitor groups, with 8 rats in each group. The FD model was established by tail-clip (30 min/time, twice daily) + single day feeding, and gavage of normal saline (2 mL/time, twice a day) for 2 successive weeks. For rats of EA and EA+AMPK inhibitor groups, EA (4 Hz, 1.0 mA) was applied to bilateral ST36 for 20 min, once daily for 7 successive days. For rats of the AMPK-inhibitor and EA+AMPK inhibitor groups, Compound C (20 mg/kg) solution was administered by intraperitoneal injection before every EA administration. The gastric residual rate and small intestinal transit rate were calculated based on the weight of stomach and length of ink propelling and total small intestine, respectively. The expression levels of c-kit, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3, Beclin 1, phosphorylated (p)-AMPK and p-unc-5...Continue Reading

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