Electroacupuncture may reduce migraine-like pain by restoring serotonin signaling between the bloodstream and brain regions that regulate pain.
Male rats were randomly allocated to control, migraine-model, electroacupuncture, or sham-acupuncture groups. Researchers monitored spontaneous pain-related and exploratory behaviours using automated home-cage observation, then measured serotonin concentrations in blood plasma and key brain regions of the descending pain-control system using biochemical assays.
Rats receiving electroacupuncture showed fewer pain-associated resting, freezing, and grooming behaviours and more exploration than untreated migraine-model rats. Electroacupuncture also reversed migraine-related serotonin changes, lowering serotonin in plasma while increasing it in the rostroventromedial medulla and trigeminal nucleus caudalis, suggesting that pain relief involved restoration of central serotonin-mediated pain regulation.
