The outcome of acupuncture on hypertension treatment is inconclusive. This study aims to evaluate the influence of acupuncture on hypertension, based on findings from mechanistic studies over the course of decades particularly those conducted at the University of California, Irvine. Low-current and low-frequency electroacupuncture (EA) at P5-6 (overlying the median nerve) and S36-37 (overlying ...

The mechanism of general anesthesia remains elusive. ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) in the midbrain regulates sleep and awake states. However, role vlPAG its circuits is unclear. We utilized opto/chemogenetics, righting reflex, electroencephalographic recording to assess consciousness changes. employed fiber photometry measure activity neurons neurotransmitters. As a result, showed t...

Rat pups become immobile and analgesic when exposed to an adult male rat. The aim of this study was to determine whether these reactions are under the control of endogenous opioids and to determine the role of the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), which mediates stress-induced immobility and analgesia in adult animals. In Experiment 1, 14-day-old rats were injected systemically with the gener...

Selective retrograde labelling was used as an autoradiographic method to identify possible excitatory amino acid afferents to nucleus raphe magnus (NRM). Injections of 25-50 nl 10(-2) or 10(-3) M D-[3H]aspartate into the NRM resulted in prominent labelling of cells in ventrolateral mesencephalic periaqueductal gray (PAG). Electrophysiologically, stimulation in ventrolateral PAG excited cells in...

The aims of the present study were to investigate, in rats, the behavioral effects of substance P (SP) microinjected into the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (PAG) and the effects of the neurokinin 1 (NK-1) receptor antagonist [d-Arg1, d-Trp7, 9, Leu11]-substance P (Spantide). The effect of morphine administration on the release of SP in the ventrolateral PAG was also investigated using micro...

The nucleus paragigantocellularis (PGI) is located in the rostral ventrolateral medulla and has noticeable connections with some other brain nuclei, such as locus ceruleus, nucleus raphe magnus and periaqueductal gray. In rats it is 3 mm in rostrocaudal and 1 mm in mediolateral and 1 mm in the dorsolateral aspect. Anatomically and functionally, PGI has been divided into two subnuclei, retrofaci...