Repeated electroacupuncture treatment attenuated hyperalgesia through suppression of spinal glial activation in chronic neuropathic pain rats

This study investigates how electroacupuncture (EA) affects neuropathic pain in rats by looking at glial cells in the spinal cord. The researchers examined the impact of EA on pain thresholds and the activity of microgliacytes and astrocytes, two types of glial cells known to play a role in pain processing. The findings suggest that EA can alleviate neuropathic pain by reducing the activation of these glial cells in the spinal cord, with microgliacytes being affected earlier and astrocytes later in the treatment process.

• 1
  Repeated EA treatment relieved both mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia in CCI rats, suggesting an analgesic effect.
• 2
  EA treatment inhibited the activation of microgliacytes and astrocytes in the lumbar spinal cord of CCI rats.
• 3
  The study found that EA-induced pain relief might be mediated by suppressing astrocytic activation in the later phase of neuropathic pain.