Extended Data Fig. 10: The tibial nerve was dispensable for focal 0.5 mA ST36 ES-evoked anti-inflammatory effects, and the common peroneal nerve was required for 0.5 mA ST36 ES to induce Fos in NTS-projecting spinal neurons.
From: A neuroanatomical basis for electroacupuncture to drive the vagal–adrenal axis
a, 0.5 mA ST36 ES-evoked reduction of LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-6 in serum, compared with sham 0 mA ES, was unaffected by tibial nerve neurectomy (“TNX”) compared with sham surgery (“sham”) (two-way ANOVA, n = 5 mice per group; for TNF-α: F1, 16 = 0.253, P = 0.622; post hoc Tukey’s test: left **P = 0.002, right **P = 0.005; for IL-6: F1, 16 = 0.002, P = 0.989; post hoc Tukey’s test: left **P = 0.009, right **P = 0.007). As described in Extended Data Fig. 3a, the tibial nerve was located posterior to fibula and tibia, and our focal ES of ST36 apparently failed to activate this nerve. This is different from reported activation of this nerve via a diffuse ES mode10, in which the electric current entered the left ST36 site and came out of the right ST36 site10. b, 0.5 mA, but not 0 mA control, ES of ST36 induced Fos (green) in Fluoro-gold+ retrogradely labeled NTS-projecting neurons (red) located in the lamina I of the spinal cord in sham surgery mice, with arrows indicating co-labeling. This induction was lost in mice with common peroneal neurectomy (“CPX”) (Two-way ANOVA, n = 3 mice per group, F1, 8 = 265.645, P < 0.001; post-hoc Tukey’s test: ***P < 0.001; NS, not significant, P = 0.145). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. Scale bars: 100 μm.
