Expression levels of TRPV1 and associated molecules in the PFC. The expression pattern of TRPV1 protein was detected in the following groups: WT-HFD; WT-HFD-ACE; WT-HFD-SHAM; and KO-HFD. The results demonstrated significant decreases in (A) TRPV1 expression in WT-HFD, WT-HFD-SHAM and KO-HFD groups when compared with the WT-HFD-ACE group, which demonstrated a significant increase following ACE treatment. *P<0.05. The results also demonstrated significant decreases in (B) p-PI3K (C) p-Akt (D) p-mTOR (E) p-PKCε (F) p-PKAIIα (G) p-ERK (H) p-p38 (I) p-JNK (J) p-NF-κB and (K) p-CREB expression levels in the WT-HFD and WT-HFD-SHAM groups compared with the other groups. *P<0.05. The expression levels of these proteins were statistically increased in the WT-HFD-ACE and KO-HFD groups. *P<0.05. TRPV1, transient receptor vanilloid member 1; WT, wild-type; ND, normal diet; HFD, high-fat diet; ACE, acupoint catgut embedding; KO, knockout; PFC, prefrontal cortex; p, phosphorylated; PKCε. protein kinase C epsilon type; PKAIIα, protein kinase AII α; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; p38, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase; JNK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase; CREB, cyclic AMP-response element binding protein.