Influence of Acupuncture on Power of Brain Electrical Activity Mapping and Hippocampal Amino Acid Transmitters in Acute Epilepsy Rats

【Objective】To investigate the influence of acupuncture on the power of brain electrical activity mapping(BEAM) and hippocampal amino acid neurotransmitters in acute epilepsy rats.【Methods】Forty SD rats were randomized into groups A(normal),B(model),C(treated with acupuncture) and D(treated with sodium valproate).Group C was pretreated with acupuncture on acupoints of Dazhui and Fenglong and with needling through Ganshu toward Danshu.Group D was pretreated with sodium valproate by gastric gavage.The treatment in groups C and D lasted 3 days.Except group A,the mice in other 3 groups received intraperitoneal injection of sodium penicillin to induce acute epilepsy.Within seventy to eighty-five minutes after modeling,different frequency-band power of BEAM in rat brain middle Pz region was detected,and rats hippocampal contents of excitatory amino acids such as glutamic acid(Glu) and aspartic acid(ASP) as well as inhibitory amino acids such as gamma-aminobutyric acid(GABA),glycine(Gly),alanine(Ala) and taurine(Tau) were examined.【Results】Power of frequency band δ,θ,α_1,α_2,β_1 and β_2 in group B increased(P0.01 compared with group A)but that of frequency band δ,θ,α_1,α_2,β_1 decreased in groups C and D(P0.05 or P0.01 compared with group B).Hippocampal contents of Glu,ASP,GABA,Ala,Gly and Tau in group B were higher than those in group A(P0.01),and Glu,ASP and Tau decreased in groups C and D(P0.05 or P0.01 compared with group B),Ala increased in group C(P0.01).Contents of GABA,Ala and Gly as well as the ratio of GABA and Glu in group C did not differ from those in group B.【Conclusion】The anti-epilepsy mechanism of acupuncture may be related to the inhibition of epileptic discharge and to the regulation of contents of excitatory amino acids and inhibitory amino acids.