A Proposed Neurologic Pathway for Scalp Acupuncture: Trigeminal Nerve-Meninges-Cerebrospinal Fluid-Contacting Neurons-Brain
A Proposed Neurologic Pathway for Scalp Acupuncture: Trigeminal Nerve-Meninges-Cerebrospinal Fluid-Contacting Neurons-Brain
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DOI：
10.1089/acu.2017.1231
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发表时间：
2017-10-01
影响因子：
1.1
通讯作者：
Zhu, Bing
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Wang, Shuya;Liu, Kun;Zhu, Bing
目的：头针治疗脑部疾病是一种临床疗效显著的躯体刺激疗法。然而，这种针灸的治疗机制尚未得到很好的解决。头皮穴位由三叉神经支配，三叉神经与脑内感觉神经传入和脑膜血管重合。近年来，接触脑脊液神经元被发现并被证明在脑实质和脑膜之间传递过敏物质，这代表了头针与脑之间可能存在的网络。本研究的目的是观察头皮穴位与脑膜之间的联系，并建立头皮针刺的可能机制。材料和方法：选用成年SD大鼠25只。刺激大鼠三叉神经后尾静脉注射伊文思蓝染料(Sigma化学公司，圣路易斯，密苏里州)，观察血浆外渗情况。分别在针刺大鼠头穴和足三里前后不同时间点测定大鼠脑表面脑血流量(CBF)。结果：初步研究表明，机械或电刺激三叉神经后皮肤和硬脑膜神经源性血浆渗出是反映头穴与脑膜病理联系的可靠方法。此外，电针位于眶上神经感受野的GB15穴可显著增加大鼠脑表面的CBF。结论：头针的作用机制可能在于三叉神经-脑膜-脑脊液-接触神经元-脑的特定神经通路，这可能是脑功能调节和脑疾病治疗的一条捷径。
Objective: Scalp acupuncture is a somatic stimulation therapy that produces prominent clinical effects when used to treat cerebral diseases. However, this acupuncture's therapeutic mechanisms have not yet been well-addressed. Scalp acupoints are innervated by the trigeminal nerve, which is coincident with the intracranial sensory afferents as well as with the meningeal vessels. In recent years, cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons have been found and proved to transmit allergic substances between brain the parenchyma and meninges, representing a possible network between scalp acupuncture and the brain. The aim of the current study was to observe the connections between scalp acupoints and the meninges and to establish a possible mechanism for scalp acupuncture.Materials and Methods: Twenty-five adult Sprague-Dawley rats were used for the present study. Evans Blue dye (Sigma Chemical Co, St. Louis, MO) was injected though each rat's caudal vein after trigeminal stimulation for plasma extravasation observation. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) values of the rat's brain surface were measured at different timepoints before and after electroacupuncture (EA) on GB 15 (Toulinqi) or ST 36 (Zusanli).Results: These preliminary studies indicated that neurogenic plasma extravasation on a rat's skin and dura mater after mechanical or electrical stimulation of the trigeminal nerves is a reliable way to show the pathologic connection between scalp acupoints and the meninges. Moreover, CBF of the rat's brain surface is increased significantly after EA stimulation at GB 15 (Toulinqi), which is located in the receptive field of the supraorbital nerve.Conclusions: These findings suggest that the mechanism of scalp acupuncture might lie in the specific neurologic pathway that could be termed as trigeminal nerve-meninges-cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons-brain, which is a possible shortcut to brain functional regulation and cerebral disease treatment.