Be. Wang et al., EFFECT OF ELECTROACUPUNCTURE ON THE LEVEL OF PREPROENKEPHALIN MESSENGER-RNA IN RAT DURING PENICILLIN-INDUCED EPILEPSY, Acupuncture & electro-therapeutics research, 19(2-3), 1994, pp. 129-140
Our previous studies have shown that seizure induced by injecting peni
cillin (0.24 mg/2 mul) into hippocampus could be inhibited by electroa
cupuncture (EA) probably via decreasing enkephalin content in hippocam
pus. To determine whether this change reflected the peptide synthesis,
preproenkephalin (PPE) mRNA was detected in hippocampus and some othe
r limbic structures during seizure and after EA treatment by in situ h
ybridization. Four hours after injecting penicillin into hippocampus,
PPE mRNA levels were significantly increased by 10 folds in entorhinal
cortex, subiculum, CA1 area of hippocampus, amygdaloid nucleus and pi
riform cortex, whereas EA treatment apparently attenuated the seizure-
induced increase of PPE mRNA in the areas mentioned above. The results
indicated that EA may regulate the biosynthesis of PPE in hippocampus
during seizure by an alteration in gene transcription.