Effect of Warm Acupuncture on “Dinghui Acupoint” and “Heart Acupoint” in Traditional Mongolian Medicine on Behaviors and Hypothalamic Inammatory Cytokines in Rats with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Objective: To observe the effects of warm acupuncture on “Dinghui Acupoint” and “Heart Acupoint” in Traditional Mongolian Medicine on behavior and hypothalamic inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and IFN-r in Rats with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Methods: SD rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, warm acupuncture group and moxibustion positive control group. The latter three groups of rats were used to establish a model of rats with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) using a combination of physical fatigue and mental fatigue. When establishing the model of warm acupuncture group, “Dinghui Acupoint” and “Heart Acupoint” intervention was carried out; when establishing the model of moxibustion positive control group, “Zusanli Acupoint” intervention was carried out on both sides. Behavioral observations (body weight, exhaustive swimming time, tail suspension experiment, water maze) were performed before and after modeling. The hypothalamic inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and IFN-r were detected by ELISA method after warm acupuncture and moxibustion intervention. Results: After 21 days of modeling, the body weight of the rats in each group was significantly lower than that in the normal group, and there was a significant difference (P<0.01); Compared with the model group, the weight of the rats in the warm acupuncture group increased significantly, and there was a significant difference (P<0.01); Compared with the model group, the exhaustive swimming time of the rats in the warm acupuncture group was significantly prolonged, and there was a significant difference (P<0.01); Compared with the moxibustion group, the exhaustion time of the rats in the warm acupuncture group was relatively prolonged, and there was a significant difference (P<0.05); Compared with the normal group, the tail suspension time of the model group was significantly prolonged, and there was a significant difference (P<0.05); Compared with the model group, there was a significant difference in the duration of the suspension of the warm acupuncture group and the moxibustion group (P<0.01); Compared with the normal group, the total distance of the water maze test was shorter in the model group, and there was a significant difference (P<0.01); Compared with the model group, both the warm acupuncture group and the moxibustion group were prolonged, and there was a significant difference (P<0.05); Compared with the moxibustion group, the distance between the rats in the warm acupuncture group was relatively longer, but there was no significant difference (P>0.05); Compared with the normal group, IL-1β, IL-6 and IFN-r increased significantly in the model group and there was a significant difference (P<0.05); Compared with the model group, IL-1β and IL-6 in the warm acupuncture group was significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the IL-6 in the moxibustion group was significantly different (P<0.05); Compared with the model group, there was no significant difference between the IFN-r group and the moxibustion group (P>0.05); Compared with the moxibustion group, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and IFN-r were not significantly different (P>0.05). Conclusion: Warm acupuncture on “Dinghui Acupoint” and “Heart Acupoint” in Traditional Mongolian Medicine has the ability to improve the body’s defense and self-healing ability, improve chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and thus play a preventive role. The results of this research indicate that the warm acupuncture group and the moxibustion group have the same effect.