The
antidepressant mechanism of acupuncture has not been fully elucidated recently. Thus, the objective of the present study is to investigate the
antidepressant mechanism of acupuncture of modulating the
neuroinflammation induced by high mobility group box-1 (
HMGB1) in rats subjected to chronic restraint stress (CRS). Forty-four male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into control, model,
escitalopram, and acupuncture group. Except for rats in the control group, all rats were exposed to CRS for 21 days continuously. Rats in the
escitalopram group were subjected to a
suspension of
escitalopram and saline. One hour before CRS procedures, acupuncture was performed at Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (GV29) for rats in the acupuncture group, 20 min per day for 21 days. All rats in each group were conducted to detect the
body weight,
sucrose preference test at 0, 7, 14, 21 days to evaluate the depression-like behaviors. The expression of microglial activation and
HMGB1 in the hippocampus was detected by immunofluorescence. The expression of hippocampal
interleukin-10 (IL-10) was detected by western blot. And the content of serum
tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was detected by the
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay method. CRS-exposed rats showed obviously decreased
body weight and
sucrose preference when compared with the control group, which was reversed by acupuncture. The results have also shown that acupuncture ameliorated the CRS-induced activation of microglia and
HMGB1 in the hippocampus CA1 region. Furthermore, acupuncture reduced the stress-induced upregulation of TNF-α in serum. Collectively, the current study highlights the role of acupuncture in alleviating depressive behavior associated with stress-induced
neuroinflammation mediated by
HMGB1 in the CRS model of depression.