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A mathematical model of histamine-mediated neural activation during acupuncture

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Abstract

Acupoints (Xuewei) are the focus of acupuncture on the body in traditional Chinese medicine treatment. Mast and nerve cells share a perivascular location and are abundantly found at these acupoints. Both environmental factors and medical treatments (chemical and physical stimuli) can stimulate local mast cells (MCs) to degranulate and thus release histamine which then activates the nearby nerves and therefore contributes to a signal transmission from the peripheral to the central nervous system. In this paper, a mathematical model is constructed to describe the signaling pathways that originate from the cells located at an acupoint. We show that: (1) peripheral stimuli induce the release of histamine from MCs; (2) histamine excites receptors in primary sensory neurons and leads to membrane action potentials; (3) histamine released from MCs at an acupoint plays a key role in response to acupuncture. These results are consistent with experimental observations. Furthermore, this study may facilitate our understanding of the signal transmission process that occurs in response to peripheral stimuli as well as provide a useful modeling tool for quantitatively analyzing immune and acupuncture mechanisms that involve MCs.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81473750 and 81574053), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function (14DZ2260500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Fudan University, Shanghai Research Center of Acupuncture, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Na Yin, Hongwei Yang, Wei Yao & Guanghong Ding

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  1. Na Yin
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  2. Hongwei Yang
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  3. Wei Yao
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  4. Guanghong Ding
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Correspondence to Wei Yao.

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Yin, N., Yang, H., Yao, W. et al. A mathematical model of histamine-mediated neural activation during acupuncture. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 16, 1659–1668 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-017-0911-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-017-0911-9

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