Acupuncture Stimulation Alleviates Corticosterone-Induced Impairments of Spatial Memory and Cholinergic Neurons in Rats

Figure 4

Time to escape (latency) during acquisition trials of visible platform (a), hidden platform (b), probe trial (c), and swim speed (d), during the Morris water maze test. The experimental group were pretreated with vehicle saline, instead of CORT (0.9% NaCl, s.c., CON group, 𝑛=7) once daily for 21 consecutive days. The control group were pretreated with CORT (5 mg/kg, s.c., CORT group; 𝑛=7) once daily for 21 consecutive days. The other groups were pretreated with CORT-injected and Sinmun (HT7) acupoint-stimulated group (CORT-HT group; 𝑛=7), CORT-injected and Waiguan (TE5) acupoint-stimulated group (CORT-TE group; 𝑛=7), and CORT-injected and nonacupoint (on the tail)-stimulated group (CORT-TA group; 𝑛=7) every second day for 5 min before the CORT injection, respectively. Data were analyzed using a repeated-measures ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test. **𝑃<0.01 and ***𝑃<0.001  versus the CON group; ^#𝑃<0.05 and ^##𝑃<0.01  versus the CORT group. Vertical bars indicate SE.

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