Electroacupuncture reduced stress-related depressive behaviour in mice by dampening brain inflammation and suppressing a cellular danger-signalling pathway.
Male mice were assigned to unstressed controls or groups exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress, with some stressed groups receiving electroacupuncture, placebo treatment, or genetic suppression of cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate synthase. Behavioural tests assessed despair-like activity, exploration, and preference for sweetness. Hippocampal tissue was examined for structural damage, inflammatory molecules, neurotransmitters, microglial activation, cell-death markers, and proteins involved in cellular danger signalling.
Chronic stress produced depressive-like behaviours, hippocampal damage, increased inflammation, activated microglia, reduced serotonin and norepinephrine, and disrupted cell-survival signalling. Electroacupuncture and genetic suppression of cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate synthase improved behavioural and hippocampal outcomes while reducing inflammatory activity and cellular danger signalling.
