Electroacupuncture Reduces Fibromyalgia Pain by Attenuating the HMGB1, S100B, and TRPV1 Signalling Pathways in the Mouse Brain

Figure 1

Comparative graph showing the hind paw withdrawal threshold and latency. Black: control group, red: ICS group, blue: ICS + electroacupuncture (EA) group, green: transient receptor vanilloid member one deletion (Trpv1^−/−) group. indicates statistical significance with p < 0.05 when compared with the control group. ^# indicates statistical significance with p < 0.05 when compared with the ICS group. (a) Mechanical hyperalgesia measured by the von Frey test in the four groups. (b) Thermal hyperalgesia assessed by the Hargreaves test in the four groups. (c) Schematic illustration showing the ICS procedure. Control mice stayed in a 24°C environment day and night for five days. Mice subjected to ICS were kept in a 4°C environment for 17.5 hours (from 4:30 p.m. to 10:00 a.m.) from Day 0 to 3. Between 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (total duration: 6.5 hours), they were placed in a room at 24°C. In this 6.5-hour period, the mice were subjected to intermittent environment temperature change (24°C and 4°C) for 30 min each time. The procedure was terminated on Day 3 at 10:00 a.m., and fibromyalgia-like pain was assessed.

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