Mechanisms Underlying the Antidepressant Response of Acupuncture via PKA/CREB Signaling Pathway

Figure 4

Differences showing the effects of stress/antidepressant treatments on the expression levels of hippocampal PKA-α, CREB, and p-CREB in depression rats induced by CUMS. (a) The effects of stress/antidepressant treatments on the expression level of hippocampal PKA-α in depression rats induced by CUMS. (b) The effects of stress/antidepressant treatments on the expression level of hippocampal CREB in depression rats induced by CUMS. (c) The effects of stress/antidepressant treatments on the expression level of hippocampal p-CREB in depression rats induced by CUMS. Differences are shown as follows: ^★★ versus control group; ^▲ versus model group; ^▲▲ versus model group; ^◆◆ versus acupuncture group; ^■■ versus fluoxetine group. Results are presented as for 10 rats in each group. Acu: acupuncture group; FLX: fluoxetine group; Acu + H89: Acupuncture + H89 group; FLX + H89: Fluoxetine + H89 group; PKA-α: protein kinase A-α; CREB: cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding protein; p-CREB: Phosphor-CREB; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.

(a)

(b)

(c)