THE CHANGE OF C-FOS EXPRESSION IN OVARIECTOMIZED RATS FOLLOWING ELECTROACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT - AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY STUDY

The roles of electroacupuncture (EA) in regulating the function of ovu lation in rat have been investigated; however, the systematic study fo r the involvement of neural population of central nervous system (CNS) in acupuncturing the ovariectomized rat for promoting functional reco very has not been well understood. The present research was designed t o examine, by C-fos immunocytochemistry, the distribution of Fos label led neuron in CNS after acupuncturing the point of ''Zhong-Ji (RN3)'', ''Guan-Yuan (RN4)'', ''San-Ying-Jiao (SP6)'' and ''Zi-Gong (EXCA1)'' in ovariectomized rat. The area occupied by Fos protein labelled neuro n, two hours after ovariotomy, was detected in medial preoptic nucleus (MPN), lateral preoptic nucleus (LPN), suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PANH), medial amygdala n ucleus (MAN), periventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVNH), vent romedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VNH), and arcuate nucleus (AR). The C-fos immunoreactive labelled neurons disappeared two weeks later following ovariotomy. The rat, recovering for two weeks after ovarioto my, received EA, and many specific Fos labelled cell were observed in LPN, PVNH, VNH, SCN and especially in AR, PANH and MPN, but not any la belled neuron could be found in MAN. No obvious C-fos expression was s hown in these areas in the control group and EA group without ovarioto my. These results indicate that the above structures involved in regul ating the function of hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis and EA could modulate this function through effects on the above nuclei.