[Electro-acupuncture at "Zusanli" (ST36) alleviates anxiety and pain in mice with chronic inflammatory pain-anxiety comorbidity].

OBJECTIVES: To observe the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) at different acupoints on chronic inflammatory pain-anxiety comorbidity in mice, and to investigate the effect of naloxone on EA induced activation of neurons of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), and mediodorsal thalamus nucleus (MD), so as to explore whether the anti-anxiety effect of EA depends on its analgesic mechanism. METHODS: day after modeling, and applied to "Zusanli" (ST36, bilateral) or "Baihui"(GV20), or "Shengmen" (HT7, bilateral). The EA intervention was conducted for 30 min, once daily for 6 d. Naloxone was intraperitoneally injected 30 min before EA intervention. Paw withdrawal thresholds (PWTs) were measured using von Frey filaments. The anxiety-like behaviors were assessed using the open field (OF) test and elevated plus maze (EPM) test, separately. The expression of c-Fos in the ACC, mPFC, PVT, and MD was detected by immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: