Figure 16.

Ecto-nucleotidase activities in MCs in vitro and in rats acupoint in vivo. (a) Mechanosensitive ATP release from rat MCs (RBL-2H3 cell line) (averages + SEM, n = 4). Medium displacement-induced ATP release was measured in the absence or presence of ARL67156 (100 μM) (n = 6–11). ARL67156 was pre-introduced to cell suspension 20 min before mechanical stimulation. (b) Potentiating effect of ecto-nucleotidase inhibition on acupuncture-induced eATP accumulation in ST36 of ankle AA rats. Representative trace of acupuncture-induced eATP accumulation in the absence or presence of ARL67156 (100 μM), a non-specific antagonist of ecto-nucleotidases, in the microdialysis solution (n = 4). Establishing the inflammation pain and acupuncture intervention was referred to the legend of Figure 5. The data are based on Wang et al. 2020 [83] and Zuo et al. 2022 [74].