It is well known that acupuncture treatment has an effect on patients with an overactive bladder, but the mechanism of its action\r\nremains to be clarified. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of acupuncture on bladder overactivity, and the excitability of\r\ninterstitial cells of Cajal of the bladder in a rat model of partial bladder outlet obstruction. Electroacupuncture (continuous wave,\r\n30Hz, 1 mA) was applied to stimulate the Ciliao point (BL32) and the Huiyang point (BL35) of rats for 20 min, 3 days. Results\r\nshowed that acupuncture suppressed detrusor unstable contraction frequency and decreased detrusor maximum pressure in the\r\nbladder filling period. Compared with the normal control rats, HCN2 mRNA and protein expression within the bladder were\r\nupregulated and were reversed by electroacupuncture in overactive bladder rats as determined by RT-PCR, western blotting and\r\nimmunohistochemistry.Moreover, in-vitro cell-culturedOAB rats bladder interstitial cells of Cajal intracellular Ca2+ concentration\r\nwere higher than normal control rats, which were lowered after acupuncture treatment. These findings suggest that acupuncture\r\nstimulation can suppress bladder overactivity, and regulate the excitability of bladder interstitial cells of Cajal in treatment of\r\noveractive bladder myogenic mechanism.
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