Title : Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine in Addiction
Abstract:
Addiction to methamphetamine (METH) and other psychostimulants represents a major public health crisis, which causing serious burdens to society and the economy. Nowadays, the number of meth abuser has increased rapidly, and meth has become one of most common abused drugs in China. Although various therapies for drug abuse and dependence have been developed, such as pharmacological, psychological and sociological intervention, their efficacy is still limited. In the last two decades, increasing number of clinical trials and animal models have shown that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), including acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, may have potential roles in the treatment of drug addiction and related psychiatric disorders. Based on previous evidences and some referenced information from ancient TCM documents, “Baihui” combined with “Shenmen” acupoints (BS-A), and “Gegen Qinlan Decoction” (GQD) were used as acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine approaches, respectively, against drug addiction and related psychiatric problems in this study. Animals are subjected to 15~30-day METH administration followed by 15~30-day withdrawal training. Several behaviors tests, including elevated plus maze, delayed discount task, forced swim, novel object recognition and conditioned place preference, were used to assess anxiety-like, impulsive control, depression-like, learning, and rewarding behaviors. We found that both BS-A and GQD intervention could partially reverse the impaired behaviors in METH withdrawal mice. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms of action of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in treating a range of METH withdrawal-caused abnormal behavioral outcomes have been also explored here.
