抄録
Recently, electroacupuncture (EA) has been gaining more and more attention for treating epilepsy. However, concrete evidence is needed to better understand its anti-epileptic effect and the mechanism underlying this anti-epileptic effect. The present study was designed to assess the effect of EA stimulation of hindlimb on the incidence of behavioral seizures (spontaneous recurrent seizures, SRS) and electroencephalogram (EEG) seizures, and the extent of supragranular mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) using the Lithium-pilocarpine rat model of epilepsy. Sham EA at the same point without electrical stimulation was set as the control. The EA and the sham EA were performed bilaterally (at the symmetrical Zusanli acupoints on both hind leg) for 30 times every two days. Then numbers of behavioral seizures and EEG seizures were analyzed to evaluate the anti-epileptic effect. After the confirmation of the anti-epileptic effect, MFS in dentate gyrus (DG) supragranular layer was investigated by timm’s staining. The results showed that EA stimulation of hindlimb significantly reduced the behavioral seizures, EEG seizures, and supragranular MFS; however, the sham EA without electrical stimulation did not show significant effect on seizures or supragranular MFS. The findings indicate that EA stimulation of hindlimb possesses anti-epileptic effect, which is probably related to its suppressive effect on aberrant MFS in DG.
