Electroacupuncture reduced allergy-like skin inflammation and itching in rats by limiting mast cell activity and pain-sensing receptor signaling.
Researchers induced allergy-like hives in rats by sensitizing them with ovalbumin-related antibodies and then exposing their skin to ovalbumin. Animals were assigned to untreated control, disease model, electroacupuncture, capsaicin-treated, or combined capsaicin and electroacupuncture groups. Electroacupuncture was applied daily for one week at two traditional acupuncture points. Skin leakage, wheal formation, scratching, tissue pathology, mast cell abundance, inflammatory mediators, and proteins involved in pain-sensing receptor signaling were assessed using staining, biochemical assays, and protein-expression techniques.
Electroacupuncture lessened skin swelling, vascular leakage, itching behavior, and visible tissue injury. It also reduced mast cell-related changes, lowered inflammatory substances in skin and blood, and suppressed expression of proteins linked to the transient receptor potential vanilloid one pathway. Capsaicin activation of this pathway supported the interpretation that electroacupuncture’s anti-itch and anti-inflammatory effects involve reduced mast cell activation and dampened sensory receptor signaling.
