Acupuncture Relieves the Excessive Excitation of Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex Axis Function and Correlates with the Regulatory Mechanism of GR, CRH, and ACTHR

Figure 3

Effect of acupuncture on GR protein expression. GR protein expression was reduced obviously in the hippocampus, PVN, and pituitary gland and was dramatically increased in the adrenal cortex in M group as compared with N group. Compared with M group, GR protein expression was upregulated in the hippocampus, PVN, and pituitary gland and was downregulated in the adrenal cortex to different extents in MEAN and MNEA groups, but the results in MEA group were superior to MNEA group. The corresponding protein expression was increased obviously in the hippocampus in NEA group, which was significantly different as compared with N group. *𝑃<0.05, **𝑃<0.01, and ***𝑃<0.001 (𝑛=10--12) (GR: #H-300, Santa Cruz, 96KD, dilution: 1 : 1000).