Author(s)

Jie Yu¹, Jia Chen¹, Tianjun Hu¹, Shanghan Guo¹, Xiulian Wang¹, Yinyi Guo¹, Xiaoyin Chen^1*, Canghuan Zhao^1,2*

¹Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
²Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Objective: The objective is to observe the treatment effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on core circadian clock gene Per2 and Bmal1 expression in hypothalamus of sleep-deprivation (SD) rats. Methods: Thirty-two Wistar male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups. Mice in the blank control group did not receive any treatment; the remaining groups were applied with para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) 300 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection for 2 days. Diazepam group received intraperitoneal injection of Diazepam (0.9 mg/kg, i.p.) one time a day for 5 days, while M group was treated with saline (0.9 mg/kg, i.p.) at the same time. Rats in EA group were given EA treatment, 20 minutes, once a day for 5 days, and rats in remaining groups were put into fixation-machine for the same time everyday, lasting for 5 days. Rats were sacrificed after anesthesia at the 8th day. Real-time PCR was adopted to detect the expression in clock gene Per2 and Bmal1 of each group. Results: Compared with blank control group, the expression of Per2 was significant decreased in PCPA model group (P < 0.05), the expression of Bmal1 was increased in PCPA model group (P < 0.05). Compared with PCPA model group, the expression of Per2 were significant enhanced in EA group and Diazepam group (P < 0.05). Simultaneously, compared with PCPA group, the expression of Bmal1 was no statistically significant in EA group and Diazepam groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: EA can significant up-regulate the expression of Per2 in SD rats, and down-regulate gene Bmal1 expression, and benefiting the weight of rats. Thus, EA is a potentially promising intervention to treat sleep-deprivation.

Electro-Acupuncture, Sleep-Deprivation, Circadian Rhythm, Per2, Bmal1, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Yu, J. , Chen, J. , Hu, T. , Guo, S. , Wang, X. , Guo, Y. , Chen, X. and Zhao, C. (2016) Effect of Electro-Acupuncture on Expression of Circadian Clock Gene Per2 and Bmal1 in Sleep Deprivation Rat. Chinese Medicine, 7, 16-24. doi: 10.4236/cm.2016.71003.