What intrinsic factors influence responsiveness to acupuncture in pain?: a review of pre-clinical studies that used responder analysis

Table 4 Differentially expressed or changed factors between responder and non-responder

Author (Year)	Target regions	Responder > Non-responder	Non-responder > Responder
Low Frequency EA
Kim (2014)	Hypothalamus	AMPK mRNA expression
Wang (2012)^a	Spinal dorsal horn (L5-L6)	- Neurotransmitter receptors-related genes: Aplnr, Gabrg2 (at 24 h) - Regulation of proinflammatory cytokines-related genes: Fcgr2b and Gsk3b	- Neurotransmitter receptors-related genes: Gabrg2 (at 1 h), and Htr1f - Proinflammatory cytokines-related gene expression: C5ar1, IL-6 and TNFα - Neurotransmitter receptors-related genes: Gabra2
Gao (2007)^b	Hypothalamus	Voltage-gated K+ channels, solute carrier family 8, Synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2b, glutamatergic A receptor, ghrelin precursor, melanocortin 4 receptor and neuroligin 1
Lee (2002)	Hypothalamus		CCK-AR mRNA expression, but not CCK-BR
Takeshige (1993)	Dorsal PAG	Neural activity evoked by EA
Takeshige (1992)	Medial arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus	Neural activity evoked by EA
High Frequency EA
Wang (2012)^a	Spinal dorsal horn (L5-L6)	Aplnr, Gabrg2 (at 24 h)	None
Ko (2006)	Hypothalamus		Both CCK-AR and CCK-BR mRNA expression
Liu (1999)	Spinal perfusate		CCK-8-ir

^aThrough cDNA microarray, Wang (2012) compared the responder group, the non-responder group and the restraint group (not applied EA) at 1 h and 24 h time point after EA stimulation. We selectively reported genes which were significantly different between the responder group and the non-responder group and a more different group from the restraint group was described as the subject. Almost all genes, cited in this table, showed statistical difference at 1 h time point and only Gabrg2 was statistically different between the responder and the non-responder group both at 1 h and at 24 h time point. ^bWe selectively reported statistically different genes through both microarray and RT-PCR. Gao (2007) conducted dissecting hypothalamus immediately after EA stimulation. AMPK, 5′-AMP-activated protein kinase (regulation of energy homeostasis); CCK-8-ir, cholecystokinin octapeptide like immunoreactivity; CCK-AR, cholecystokinin A receptor; CCK-BR, cholecystokinin B receptor; PAG, periaqueductal central gray

ISSN: 2662-7671