Acupuncture at heterotopic acupoints enhances jejunal motility in constipated and diarrheic rats

Figure 6 Effect of methoctramine on the regulations of jejunal motility by manual acupuncture at LI11, ST37, ST25, and BL25. A: Representative traces of jejunal motility without and with methoctramine; B: Representative traces of the regulations of jejunal motility by acupuncture at LI11, ST37, ST25, and BL25 separately following the administration of methoctramine; C: Methoctramine reduced the intrajejunal pressure significantly (^bP < 0.01 vs baseline, unpaired t-test, n = 10); D: Methoctramine decreased the frequency of jejunal motility significantly (^dP < 0.01 vs control, unpaired t-test, n = 10); E: Acupuncture at LI11, ST37, and BL25 rescued the methoctramine-mediated inhibition of intrajejunal pressure significantly, but acupuncture at ST25 further decreased intrajejunal pressure in the presence of methoctramine (^fP < 0.01 vs non-methoctramine; ^gP < 0.05, ^hP < 0.01 vs pre-acupuncture, paired t-test, n = 10). Intrajejunal pressure was normalized by baseline without any treatment, the dashed line denotes basal intrajejunal pressure without methoctramine; F: Only acupuncture at ST37 significantly rescued the methoctramine-mediated inhibition of frequency of jejunal motility (^fP < 0.01 vs non-methoctramine, shown as the dashed line; ^gP < 0.05, ^hP < 0.01 vs pre-acupuncture, paired t-test, n = 10). Frequency was normalized by baseline without any treatment. The dashed line denotes basal frequency of jejunal motility without methoctramine.