Electroacupuncture may reduce surgery-related stress and anxiety by suppressing hypothalamic nesfatin-1 signaling that drives hormonal stress-system overactivity.
Researchers used partial liver removal in animal models to mimic surgical trauma, then applied electroacupuncture at two traditional acupuncture points. They measured hypothalamic nesfatin-1, stress-related neural activation, and corticotropin-releasing hormone, alongside blood markers of stress-system activity. Anxiety-like behaviour was assessed using exploration, maze, and light–dark preference tests. Nesfatin-1 was experimentally increased or reduced within the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, while gene-expression sequencing and targeted inhibitor administration examined downstream signaling mechanisms.
Surgical trauma increased hypothalamic nesfatin-1 and corticotropin-releasing hormone, activated the hormonal stress system, and produced anxiety-like behaviours. Electroacupuncture reversed these effects, while increasing nesfatin-1 reproduced stress-system activation and anxiety, and reducing it protected against trauma-related changes. The findings identified a signaling route involving extracellular signal-regulated kinases and cAMP response element-binding protein as a key mechanism through which nesfatin-1 promotes these responses; blocking this route reduced stress-system overactivity and anxiety-like behaviour.
