Acupuncture stimulation can protect the brain against caffeine-induced sleep disruption. This study investigated whether electroacupuncture stimulation acupuncture point HT7 alleviates sleep disruption by regulating mBDNF and ER stress in the medial septum. Acute exposure to caffeine (15 mg/kg, i.p.) increased the wake time and decreased REM sleep, which HT7 stimulation alleviated. HT7 stimulation ameliorated the acute caffeine exposure-induced increase in the expression of BiP, an endoplasmic reticulum stress response protein, in the rat medial septum. Interestingly, HT7 stimulation induced the expression of mBDNF and pTrkB in the medial septum. The next experiment investigated whether TrkB phosphorylated by HT7 stimulation induced BiP expression in the rat medial septum. Before electroacupuncture stimulation at HT7, ANA-12 was administered to caffeine-treated rats. In rats administered ANA-12 in the medial septum, HT7 stimulation did not reduce BiP expression. These findings suggest that HT7 stimulation improves wake time and REM sleep dysfunction by regulating the BDNF-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress response in the medial septum. These results indicate that the alleviation of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the medial septum by HT7 stimulation and the subsequent amelioration of insomnia may depend on phosphorylated TrkB activation.

针灸刺激可以保护大脑免受咖啡因引起的睡眠中断。本研究调查了电针刺激穴位 HT7 是否通过调节内侧隔膜的 mBDNF 和 ER 应激来缓解睡眠中断。急性接触咖啡因 (15 mg/kg, ip) 增加了清醒时间并减少了 REM 睡眠，HT7 刺激缓解了这种情况。HT7 刺激改善了急性咖啡因暴露诱导的大鼠中隔中 BiP（一种内质网应激反应蛋白）表达的增加。有趣的是，HT7 刺激诱导了中隔中 mBDNF 和 pTrkB 的表达。下一个实验研究了由 HT7 刺激磷酸化的 TrkB 是否诱导大鼠中隔中的 BiP 表达。在 HT7 电针刺激前，将 ANA-12 施用于咖啡因处理的大鼠。在中隔内给予 ANA-12 的大鼠中，HT7 刺激不会降低 BiP 的表达。这些发现表明，HT7 刺激通过调节 BDNF 介导的内侧隔膜内质网应激反应来改善唤醒时间和 REM 睡眠功能障碍。这些结果表明，HT7 刺激对中隔内质网应激的缓解和随后失眠的改善可能取决于磷酸化的 TrkB 激活。