Electroacupuncture reduced migraine-like behaviours in rats by dampening abnormal activation across brainstem circuits that regulate pain.
Researchers induced recurrent migraine-like states in conscious male rats through repeated electrical stimulation of the dura mater. Rats were assigned to receive electroacupuncture at a recognised acupuncture point after stimulation, sham needling at a non-acupuncture site, stimulation alone, or neither stimulation nor acupuncture. Automated home-cage monitoring assessed behavioural changes, while immunofluorescence staining measured activation of neurons in three brainstem regions involved in descending pain regulation.
Rats receiving electroacupuncture displayed more exploration, movement, feeding and drinking, alongside less freezing-like resting and grooming, than untreated migraine-model rats. Stimulation increased neural activation throughout the examined pain-regulation pathway, whereas electroacupuncture substantially reduced this activation. Sham acupuncture did not improve behaviour or alter neural activation, supporting a site-specific effect of electroacupuncture on brainstem pain-modulating circuits.
