Kim, Hye-Nam; Nam, Sang-Soo; Lee, Yun-Hoo; Choi, Yong-Tae

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of the bee venom(BV) aqua-acupuncture on the neuronal activities of catecholaminergic(tyrosine hydroxylase : TH, dopamine hydroxylase : DH) system in the brainstem. After the BV aqua-acupuncture was applied on Chok-Samni(ST36) and the gluteal part(Blank locus) in rats. Also, the number of colocalization between catecholamine containing neurons and Fos immunoreactive neurons were analyzed by using the double immunohistochemical technique. The results of the experiments were summarized as follows : 1. In DR and LC, Chok-Samni group and the Blank locus group showed more significant increase in the number of colocalization between TH containing neurons and Fos immunoreactive neurons than the control group. Furthermore, Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase than the Blank locus group. Also, in Arc, Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase than the Blank locus group and the control group. 2. In LC, Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase in the number of colocalization between DH containing neurons and Fos immunoreactive neurons than the Blank locus group and the control group. Also, in A5, Chok-Samni group and the Blank locus group showed more significant increase than the control group. Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase than the Blank locus group. However, there was no significant change in A7. Consequently, the BV aqua-acupuncture increased more potent the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons and the activity of catecholaminergic neurons. Furthermore, the BV aqua-acupuncture was more effective on Chok-Samni than Blank locus group. These results indicate that the BV aqua-acupuncture is very effective therapy to control pain. The therapeutic effect of BV aqua-acupunture may associated with the endogenous modulatory system such as catecholamine. Those data from the study can be applied to establish the effective treatment of the BV for pain control in the clinical field.

Bee venom; Acupuncture; pain; Fos protein; Catecholamine; Immunohistochemistry

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