Relationship between the analgesic effect of electroacupuncture and CCK-8 content in spinal perfusate in rats

There exists significant individual variation in electroacupuncture (EA) in duced analgesia. Rats may be classified as high- and low-responders accordi ng to their response to EA analgesia. The content of cholecystokinin octape ptide like immunoreactivity (CCK-8-ir) in the spinal perfusate of high-resp onder (HR) and low-responder (LR) rats was measured with radioimmunoassay. The result showed that the CCK-8-ir content in LR rats was significantly lo wer than that in HR rats. There exists a negative correlation between the E A effect and the CCK-8-ir content during EA stimulation, It is concluded th at the spinal release of CCK-8 may be one of the key factors determining th e effect of EB analgesia.