Psychoimmunological effects of dioscorea in ovariectomized rats: role of anxiety level

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anxiety levels in rats are correlated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) levels in the brain. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of dioscorea (wild yam), a Chinese medicine, on emotional behavior and IL-2 levels in the brain of ovariectomized (OVX) rats.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One month after ovariectomy, female Wistar rats were screened in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) test to measure anxiety levels and divided into low anxiety (LA) and high anxiety (HA) groups, which were then given dioscorea (250, 750, or 1500 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for 27 days and were tested in the EPM on day 23 of administration and in the forced swim test (FST) on days 24 and 25, then 3 days later, the brain was removed and IL-2 levels measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to sham-operated rats, anxiety behavior in the EPM was increased in half of the OVX rats. After chronic dioscorea treatment, a decrease in anxiety and IL-2 levels was observed in the HA OVX rats. Despair behavior in the FST was inhibited by the highest dosage of dioscorea.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results show that OVX-induced anxiety and changes in neuroimmunological function in the cortex are reversed by dioscorea treatment. Furthermore, individual differences need to be taken into account when psychoneuroimmunological issues are measured and the EPM is a useful tool for determining anxiety levels when examining anxiety-related issues.</p

Somatosympathetic Reflex and Acupuncture-Related Analgesia

Both acute and chronic pains correspond to nociceptive substances (NSs), which are naturally produced and metabolized by the organism experiencing the pains. The accumulation of NSs in regional tissues triggers a series of pathophysiological reactions and initiates certain threats to the health and the quality of human life. pharmacological intervention is the most popular treatment for pain relief, which is achieved by either reducing the production of NSs or blocking the transmission of nociceptive signals through the nervous system, but no drug has been developed for the elimination of NSs. Therefore, improving blood circulation to eliminate NSs in painful tissues is an alternative strategy for pain relief. Acupuncture has been proved to be effective for the treatment of certain kinds of pain, but the mechanisms therein remain unclear. The effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia is also variable owing to the uncertainty surrounding the mechanism and the poor standardization of the technique. There is some evidence that acupuncture may induce pain relief by changing the regional blood flow through somatosympathetic reflex (SSR) . Therefore, when exploring the mechanisms of SSR in detail, it is helpful to clarify the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia and to develop a more standardized and effective protocol for acupuncture analgesia. Increasing evidence has suggested that both sympathetic activity and stimulation- induced SSR are differentially controlled in an organ- specific and activity-dependent manner. Vasomotor outflow, which involves the regulation of impaired regional blood circulation, is also differentially controlled in response to specific somatic stimulation. Therefore, we vigorously review the relations between SSR and acupuncture-related analgesia so that we call develop a targeted pain therapy where in certain areas of the body undergo site-specific somatic stimulation, which in turn, can adjust the impaired regional blood circulation