Background: Gastrointestinal motility disorder is an important pathological basis for functional dyspepsia (FD). Epigastric ache and discomfort are the main symptoms of FD, and ghrelin deficiency is closely related to the occurrence and development of FD. While electroacupuncture (EA) alleviated the symptoms of FD patients and improved their quality of life, there is a lack of sufficient mechanistic evidence to support these beneficial effects.
Methods: An in vivo FD model was established in wild-type and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) knockout (-/-) rats. FD rats were subjected to EA with or without mTOR agonists or inhibitors. Gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion were assessed, and pathological changes in the hypothalamus, gastric antrum, and small intestine were examined histologically. In addition, ghrelin expression and AMPK/TSC2/Rheb/mTOR activation were detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot.
Results: EA alone or in combination with mTOR inhibitors improved gastrointestinal function in FD rats by increasing the rates of intestinal propulsion and gastric emptying, and pathological changes in the hypothalamus, gastric antrum, and small intestine were alleviated. This may be related to the significant upregulation of ghrelin expression and the effective activation of the AMPK/TSC2/Rheb/mTOR signaling pathway. Interestingly, EA also improved gastrointestinal function and ghrelin expression in mTOR (-/-) KO FD rats.
Conclusion: Altering the level of ghrelin by regulating AMPK/TSC2/Rheb-mediated mTOR inhibition is an important way through which EA treats FD. The complex EA-mediated regulatory mechanisms of the brain-gut axis still require further exploration.
Keywords: AMPK/TSC2/Rheb-mediated mTOR inhibition; Brain–gut axis; Electroacupuncture; Functional dyspepsia; Ghrelin.