多年来

人们对痛觉调制的研究主要集中于阿片类物质

大量的实验资料表明

各级中枢的阿片肽均参与痛觉调制。近来

人们对非阿片类神经肽在痛觉调制方面是否起作用开始感兴趣。精氨酸加压素(AVP)是下丘脑室旁核(PVN)分泌的一种非阿片类的9肽。已有实验表明

中枢或外周给予AVP可Recent evidence has indicated that vasopressin (VP) can increase the pain threshold. It is not clear whether the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of hypothalamus

which is one of the main nuclei that secrete VP in brain

is involved in the acupuncture analgesia (AA). The present study was designed to examine the role of PVN in AA. Experiments were carried out on Wistar rats using tail stimulationvocalization test to measure the pain threshold. The acupoints "Renzhong" and "Chengjiang" were selected for electroacupuncture. Electrical stimulation of PVN could increase significantly the pain threshold and enhance the effect of AA. On the contrary

electrolytical lesion of PVN could decrease the effect of AA obviously

which could be recovered by introcere-broventricular injection (ICV) of 300 ng of arginine VP. Pretreatment with AVP-antiserum (ICV) could attenuate the effect of AA. These data indicated that PVN plays an important role in pain modulation and in the effect of AA. This role might be mediated by the VP-containing neurons in PVN.