Electroacupuncture stimulates hypothalamic aromatization

Hong Zhao, Zhan Zhuang Tian, Bo Ying Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have previously reported that the repeated electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation significantly increased the concentrations of circulating estradiol and restored the depressed function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary axis (HPOA) in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. We hypothesize that extragonadal aromatization in specific brain areas might be responsible for these changes. Thus, various assays, including radiometric assay, Western blot, and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), were employed to determine the aromatization in the hypothalamus of rats that received both OVX and electroacupuncture (OVX + EA). The results showed that EA significantly increased the aromatase activity as well as the expressions of its mRNA and protein (P < 0.05) in the OVX rats. These results suggest that EA enhances brain aromatization, which might contribute to influence the function of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons and promote the hypofunction of the HPOA in the ovariectomized rats.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)164-170
Number of pages7
JournalBrain Research
Volume1037
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 10 2005

Keywords

  • Brain
  • Electroacupuncture
  • Extragonadal aromatization
  • Gonadotropin-releasing hormone
  • Ovariectomized rat

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience(all)

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