Electro-acupuncture regulates the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in a rat model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Acupuncture has a definite therapeutic effect on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) has been shown to be involved in regulation of inflammation. In this study, we investigated whether electro-acupuncture (EA) affects the CAP in COPD.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were induced into COPD through exposure to cigarette smoke combined with lipopolysaccharide.

Electroacupuncture reduces hypothalamic and medullary expression of orexins and their receptors in a rat model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objectives: Decreased lung function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is correlated with abnormal excitability of the respiratory centre where orexin neuropeptides from the hypothalamus are responsible for regulating respiration. We hypothesised that improvements in pulmonary function with electroacupuncture (EA) may be related to orexins in a rat model of COPD.

Methods: The COPD model was established by cigarette smoke exposure and lipopolysaccharide injection.

Electroacupuncture at Feishu (BL13) and Zusanli (ST36) down-regulates the expression of orexins and their receptors in rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Inflammation and lung function decline are the main pathophysiological features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Acupuncture can improve lung function in patients with COPD, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Orexins (OXs), which are found in peripheral plasma, are neuropeptides that regulate respiration and their levels are related to COPD.

Effects of electroacupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) on inflammatory cytokines in a rat model of smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Improvement in lung function was reported after acupuncture treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Because an immune response imbalance could be seen in COPD, we hypothesize that electroacupuncture (EA) may play a role in regulating inflammatory cytokines and contribute to lung protection in a rat model of smoke-induced COPD.

Methods: A COPD model using male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to cigarette smoke was established.

Orexin-A and respiration in a rat model of smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

1. Orexins are neuropeptides synthesized in the hypothalamus that regulate many physiological functions, including energy homeostasis, stress responses, sleep/wake states etc. It is now emerging that orexins may also regulate breathing, but little is known as to how they do this, particularly in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).