Effect of Acupuncture Cooperated with Low-frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Chronic Insomnia： A Randomized Clinical Trial

The effect of acupuncture cooperated with low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation （rTMS） on chronic insomnia was explored. Seventy-eight patients with chronic insomnia were randomly allocated into two groups： treatment group and control group. In the treatment group, the patients received acupuncture combined with rTMS treatment, and those in the control group were given acupuncture cooperated with sham rTMS treatment, 3 days per week for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment, the primary outcomes including the scores on Insomnia Severity Index （ISI） and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index （PSQI） and the secondary outcomes including total sleep time （TST）, sleep onset latency （SOL）, wake after sleep onset （WASO）, sleep efficiency （SE%） recorded by sleeping diary and actigraphy were observed in both groups. Seventy-five participants finished the study （38 in treatment group and 37 in control group respectively）. After treatment, the scores in the two groups were improved significantly, more significantly in the treatment group than in the control group. It can be inferred that acupuncture cooperated with rTMS can effectively improve sleep quality, enhance the quality of life of patients and has less side effects.

Construction of mice ex vivo spinal cord slice model of neuromyelitis optica induced by NMO-immunoglobulin G

Objective:Using neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G(NMO-IgG)to induced ex vivo mice spinal cord slice model.Methods:Vibratome-cut transverse spinal cord slices from 7-day-old C57BL/6Jmouse pups were cultured on transwell porous supports for 7days,then randomly divided into the control group and NMO model group.Slices of the control group were further cultured with human serum complement,while slices from NMO model group were exposed to complement and NMO-IgG.After 24-hour incubation,slices of both groups were measured for aquaporin-4(AQP4),glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP),myelin basic protein(MBP)and neurofilament light chain(NFL)by immunofluorescence.Results:Slices exposed to NMO-IgG showed astrocyte swelling,and a significant loss of AQP4and GFAP staining.Ratios of the loss of AQP4and GFAP staining were 77.74%±6.75%and 75.62%±5.76%respectively in the model group,and NMO-like injury score was 3.11±0.60.But there were no obvious losses of AQP4and GFAP staining in the control group,and NMO-like lesion score was 0.00.There were significant differences between the two groups with regards to the above indexes(P<0.01).Ratios of the loss of MBP and NFL staining in the model group were 37.60%±4.88%and46.29%±4.98%respectively,while the corresponding figures in the control group were 9.10%±1.63%and 5.80%±0.81%,and the differences between the two groups were statistically significant(P<0.01).Conclusion:These results suggested that NMO-IgG-induced ex vivo spinal cord slice model possesses typical features of NMO,and this model might be useful for relevant fundamental studies.