Effects of destruction of preoptic catecholaminergic nerve terminal on acupuncture analgesia

The present work studied the effect of preoptic catecholamine on acupuncture analgesia. The catecholaminergic terminals were destructed by microinjection of 6-hydroxydopamine into the preoptic area and the destruction was checked by fluorescence histochemical method. The results showed that the destruction of catecholaminergic terminals significantly enhance acupuncture analgesia, suggesting that the reduction of catecholamine content in the preoptic area may enhance acupuncture analgesia.