Analgesic effects of balanced acupuncture versus body acupuncture in low-back and leg pain patients with lumbar disc herniation, as assessed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging

Balanced acupuncture, a single-acupoint balance therapy, regulates the balance of the cerebral center, and is characterized by exerting quick effects and a short treatment course. A total of 20 low-back and leg pain patients with lumbar disc herniation were treated with balanced acupuncture or body acupuncture. Central mechanisms of vaded acupunctures were compared using resting-state functional MRI. Patients from both groups received functional MRI before and after acupuncture. Functional connectivity in brain regions that were strongly associated with the bilatera amygdala was analyzed utilizing AFNI software. Visual analogue scale scores were greater in the balanced acupuncture group compared with the body acupuncture group. Function of the endogenous pain regulation network was enhanced in patients in the balanced acupuncture group, but was not changed in the body acupuncture group. This result indicates that the analgesic effects of body acupuncture do not work through the central nervous system. These data suggest that balanced acupuncture exerts analgesic effects on low-back and leg pain patients with lumbar disc herniation by regulating the function of the endogenous pain regulation network.

Research the mechanism of Cinnamoni cortex-Aconm lateralis radixpraeparaia-Achtranthis bidentatae radix combination in treatment oflumbar disc herniation based on datamining and networkpharmacology

Background:This study gets a classic prescription of Song Dynasty medicine for the treatment of waist and leg pain through analyzing the inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine auxiliary platform.Further,the potential mechanism of the classic prescription was analyzed based on molecular docking and network pharmacology.Methods:Based on the frequency statistics,association rules and cluster analysis,the core herbal combination and the classic prescription was digged out.Use of network pharmacology methods and molecular docking to explore the pharmacological mechanism of classic prescriptions for treatment of lumbar disc herniation.Then gene ontology biological function annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment of pathways were performed.Finally,the compounds of herbs were docked with the important targets of MMP1 and CRP.Results:The high-frequency Chinese medicines for treating waist and leg pain were found and we further unearthed the“Rougui-Fuzi-Niuxi(Cinnamoni cortex-Aconm lateralis radix praeparaia-Achyranthis bidentatae radix”as the core herbal combination,and matched the classic ancient prescription of Chinese medicine Jiawei Shenzhuo decoction(CAPCMJWSZD).The targets of CAPCMJWSZD were mapped to the targets of lumbar disc herniation and 48 potential targets were obtained.The core potential targets were obtained in the protein-protein interaction network,such as CRP,IL2,FOS,MMP1,CASP3.Through the DAVID database,a total of 129 gene ontology function annotation terms(P<0.01)and 91 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways(P<0.01)were obtained.Molecular docking results showed that quercetin has the lowest binding energy for docking with MMP1and CRP,and these two methods of molecular docking are most likely to occur.Conclusion:The most important bioactive components in CAPCMJWSZD can eliminate inflammation and slow disc degeneration through some potential targets,such as CRP,IL-2,MMP1,and these targets can rich in the following pathways,such as metalloendopeptidase activity,MAP kinase activity,osteoclast differentiation,et al.