TITLE:
Effect of Electro-Acupuncture on Expression of Circadian Clock Gene Per2 and Bmal1 in Sleep Deprivation Rat
AUTHORS:
Jie Yu, Jia Chen, Tianjun Hu, Shanghan Guo, Xiulian Wang, Yinyi Guo, Xiaoyin Chen, Canghuan Zhao
KEYWORDS:
Electro-Acupuncture, Sleep-Deprivation, Circadian Rhythm, Per2, Bmal1, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)
JOURNAL NAME:
Chinese Medicine,
Vol.7 No.1,
March
15,
2016
ABSTRACT: Objective: The objective is to observe the treatment effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on core circadian clock gene Per2 and Bmal1 expression in hypothalamus of sleep-deprivation (SD) rats. Methods: Thirty-two Wistar male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Mice in the blank control group did not receive any treatment; the remaining groups were applied with para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) 300 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection for 2 days. Diazepam group received intraperitoneal injection of Diazepam (0.9 mg/kg, i.p.) one time a day for 5 days, while M group was treated with saline (0.9 mg/kg, i.p.) at the same time. Rats in EA group were given EA treatment, 20 minutes, once a day for 5 days, and rats in remaining groups were put into fixation-machine for the same time everyday, lasting for 5 days. Rats were sacrificed after anesthesia at the 8th day. Real-time PCR was adopted to detect the expression in clock gene Per2 and Bmal1 of each group. Results: Compared with blank control group, the expression of Per2 was significant decreased in PCPA model group (P 0.05). Conclusion: EA can significant up-regulate the expression of Per2 in SD rats, and down-regulate gene Bmal1 expression, and benefiting the weight of rats. Thus, EA is a potentially promising intervention to treat sleep-deprivation.