The association of serum leptin with the reduction of food intake and body weight during electroacupuncture in rats

Previous studies indicate that acupuncture or electroacupuncture (EA) treatment reduces body weight and food intake in rats by increasing the level of anoretic peptides and decreasing that of orexigenic peptides in the hypothalamus. Considering a well-established role of leptin as a major regulator for feeding behavior in the hypothalamus, we hypothesized that EA might exert its effect via increasing serum leptin levels. In this study, we tested our hypothesis by evaluating the effects of EA on food intake and body weight, as well as on serum leptin levels in rats. Rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: AL (fed ad libitum with no treatments), Holder (fed ad libitum with daily holder restraint) and EA (fed ad libitum with daily holder restraint and 100 Hz EA stimulation) groups. During the four-week experimental period, daily food intake and body weight were measured. At the end of the experiment, levels of serum leptin and corticosterone, and plasma epinephrine (Epi) and norepinephrine (NE) were determined. Here we demonstrate that EA treatment indeed led to reduction of food intake and body weight, and to an increase of serum leptin levels. The level of Epi, NE, and corticosterone increased in the Holder group, but such increase in the level of aforementioned stress hormones was not observed in the EA group. Overall, our results suggest that EA treatment reduces food intake and body weight in rats possibly through increasing leptin levels, and that this effect of EA is not due to the stress caused by the daily holder restraint.