Objective： To observe the effect of electro-acupuncture on the relapse to heroin-seeking induced by heroin-related cues after withdrawal from heroin self-administration in rats. Methods： Sixty male Wistar rats were randomized into physiological saline group, withdrawal group A, withdrawal group B, electro-acupuncture （EA） treatment group A and EA treatment group B, with 12 rats in each group. The rats were trained by nose-poke response to self administer heroin （50μg/kg/per infusion） or saline with one daily 4-h session for 14 consecutive days, the session ended after 25 infusions were earned or 4 hours had passed, the reinforcement schedule was a progressive ratio. Then rats in withdrawal group A and withdrawal group B were withdrawn from heroin for 1 week and 2 weeks respectively, and then they were reintroduced to their training chambers for 4-h relapse testing which was induced by heroin-related environmental cues; And rats in EA treatment group A and EA treatment group B were also withdrawn from heroin for 1 week and 2 weeks respectively, during which they were given EA treatment for 20 min daily, then they received relapse testing; In the meantime, rats in saline group were trained with saline instead of heroin for 14 days as control, after 7 days of withdrawal from saline, they received relapse testing. Results： Following 7-8 days of drug training, the rats began to establish the stable intravenous heroin self-administration behavior; For the stable heroin self-administrating rats that received EA treatment, when they were reintroduced to their training chambers, their heroin-seeking behaviors were obviously inhibited, and this inhibitory effect related to the cumulativeness of EA stimulation. Conclusion： The results suggested that EA could prevent relapse to heroin-seeking to a certain extent.
Objective：To study the changes of cognitive attention-related brain function in the heroin addicts before and after electro-acupuncture（EA） intervention for exploring the concerned neuro-mechanism of addictive relapse and the central action role of EA intervention.Methods：Adopting event-related potential（ERP） technique,the ERP at 64 electrode spots in 10 heroin addicts（test group） were recorded before and after EA intervention with dot-probe experimental form during implementing cognitive task on positive emotional clue （PEC）,negative emotional clues（NEC）,and heroin-related clue（HRC）.The P200 amplitude components on the selected observation points（Fz,Cz,and Pz） were analyzed and compared with those obtained from 10 healthy subjects as the control.Results：Before EA,the ERP of attention on HRC in the test group was higher than that on PEC and NEC（P0.05） and significantly higher than that in the control group（P0.05）;after EA,the P200 amplitude of attention on HRC at Cz and Pz was significantly lowered（P0.05） and that on PEC at Fz was significantly elevated（P0.05）.After EA,the P200 amplitude at Pz was ranked as NECPECHRC,but in the control group,it showed PECHRC at all three observation points and PECNEC at Pz.Conclusion：Heroin addicts show attention bias to HRC,which could be significantly reduced by EA intervention,illustrating that EA could effectively inhibit the attention bias to heroin and so might have potential for lowering the relapse rate.
Objective： To investigate the intervention effect of electroacupuncture on postwithdrawal anxiety and depression of those with heroin dependence. Method： One hundred and twenty heroin dependence cases were randomly allocated into 4 groups, including acupuncture group 1 using Jiaji （Ex-B 2） points and Shenshu （BL 23）, acupuncture group 2 using points in the four limbs, simulation and control groups. Then the SAS and SDS changes were observed before the treatment and 4th, 8th and 10th week after. Result： At the 4th, 8th and 10th week, the SAS and SDS scores in acupuncture group 1 and 2 showed significant differences with the control group （P〈0.01, P〈0.05）. There were significant differences between SAS changes in acupuncture group 1 and 2 but there was no significant difference in SDS changes. Conclusion： Electroacupuncture can improve the post-withdrawal anxiety and depression in heroin addicts. Jiaji （Ex-B 2） points showed significantly better effects in improving anxiety than points in four limbs but no significant difference in improving depression.
Objective： This present study is to investigate the biochemical adaptations in the rdated brain regions of the mesolimbic dopamine system, such as the ventral tegmental area （VFA）, nucleus accumbens （NAc）, amygdale （Amy）, prefrontal cortex （PFC） , substantia nigra （SN） and caudateputamen （CPu） in response to heroin self-administration in rats and observe the effect of electroacupuncture on them. Methods. Thirty rats were trained by nose-poking response to establish stable intravenous heroin self-administration within 14 days, and then divided randomly into model group （group B） including 6 rats, withdrawal group which were withdrawn from heroin for 1 week （group C, n = 6） and for 2 weeks （group D, n= 6）, during which time they only lived in their individual home cages, and dectrtyacupuncture group which were also withdrawn from heroin for 1 week （group E, n= 6） and for 2 weeks （group F, n = 6）, during which time they were given electro-acupuncture treatment for 20 min daily and then returned to their individual home cages; in the meantime, another 6 rats were trained by nose-poking response with saline for 14 days as control （group A）; Then the leeds of tyrosine hydroxylase （TH） and glial fibrillary acidic protein （GFAP） in VFA, NAc, Amy, PFC, SN, CPu were detected with immunohistochemistry method. Results. The leeds of TH and GFAP in VFA of the heroin self administrating rats were obviously increased, and the leeds of TH and GFAP in NAc were also decreased, and these changes were not found in SN, CPu, Amy and PFC; Electro-acupuncture could promote the up regulation of TH and GFAP in VTA and down-regulation of TH and GFAP in NAc to return to the normal leeel. Conclusions： The chronic heroin self administration produced some biochemical adaptations in the related brain regions of the mesolimbic dopamine system and electroacupuncture could promote the repair of the ＂injured＂ DA neurons in VTA of heroin addicted rats and their functional recovery.
