<p style="text-align: center;">LIU Qiong, LIU Xia, BI Dingyan, HE Wei, LIU Mailan, LIU Mi, WANG Xiaoyu, ZHANG Xiao-ning, JING Xianghong, CHANG&nbsp;Xiaorong</p><p style="text-align: center;">(1 College of Acu-moxibustion and Massage, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410007, China; 2 Institute of Acupucture-moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700)</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Abstract:</strong>&nbsp; <strong>Objective</strong>:&nbsp; To&nbsp; determine&nbsp; whether&nbsp; TRPV1mediates&nbsp; the&nbsp; expression&nbsp; of&nbsp; mast&nbsp; cell&nbsp; and nociceptive&nbsp; neuropeptides&nbsp; after&nbsp; acupuncture&nbsp; and&nbsp; moxibustion&nbsp; in&nbsp; acupoint&nbsp; ST36&nbsp; area&nbsp; of&nbsp; mice. Materials and Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice and Male TRPV1 knockout (TRPV1-/-) mice were both randomly divided into normal group, acupuncture group and moxibustion group, 5 mice in each group. After adaptive feeding for 1 week, acupoint Zusanli (ST36) of C57BL/6 and TRPV1-/-&nbsp; mice&nbsp; were&nbsp; administrated&nbsp; with&nbsp; manual&nbsp; acupuncture&nbsp; for&nbsp; 5min&nbsp; or&nbsp; moxibustion&nbsp; for&nbsp; 30min.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Immnohistochemistry&nbsp; analysis&nbsp; were&nbsp; carried&nbsp; out&nbsp; to&nbsp; observe&nbsp; the&nbsp; expression&nbsp; of&nbsp; histamine&nbsp; (HA),&nbsp; serotonin(5-HT)&nbsp; and&nbsp; &nbsp;nociceptive&nbsp; neuropeptides,&nbsp; calcitonin&nbsp; gene-related&nbsp; peptide(CGRP)&nbsp; and substance P (SP), in ST36 area. Mast cells were labeled with anti-mast cell tryptase antibody and simultaneously with HA or 5-HT primary antibodies&nbsp; to observe their co-expression.&nbsp; <strong>Result</strong>:&nbsp; 1）The&nbsp; expression&nbsp; of&nbsp; mast&nbsp; cells&nbsp; in&nbsp; C57BL/6&nbsp; mice&nbsp; increased&nbsp; significantly&nbsp; after&nbsp; acupuncture&nbsp; or moxibustion than that of the control. Mast cells were deformed with aggregation and degranulation. Moreover,&nbsp; mast&nbsp; cells’&nbsp; degranulation&nbsp; induced&nbsp; by&nbsp; moxibustion&nbsp; was&nbsp; more&nbsp; extensive&nbsp; than&nbsp; that&nbsp; of acupuncture (P&lt;0.05). The granules from mast cells due to acupuncture or moxibustion were&nbsp; &nbsp;5-HT&nbsp; and HA immno-positive and the granulated mast cells concentrated nearby blood vessels. In addition nerve fibers highly expressing CGRP, SP or VR1 were distributed around blood vessels and hair follicles after acupuncture or moxibustion. 2）Mast cells aggregation and degranulation induced by acupuncture or moxibustion in TRPV1-/-&nbsp; mice was the same as that in the C57BL/6 mice. So did the neuropeptides of CGRP, SP , VR1, HA, 5-HT. 3) the No. of mast cells with aggregation and degranulation in TRPV1-/-&nbsp; mice was markedly decreased than that of C57BL/6 mice induced by acupuncture or moxibustion. 4) The expression of CGRP, SP, VR1, HA and 5-HT in TRPV1-/- mice was less than that of C57BL/6 mice induced by acupuncture or moxibustion as well, especially for VR1 expression. <strong>Conclusion</strong>: Both acupuncture and moxibustion sitmulation induced&nbsp; the&nbsp; aggregation&nbsp; and&nbsp; degranulation&nbsp; of&nbsp; mast&nbsp; cell&nbsp; and&nbsp; nerve&nbsp; fibers&nbsp; highly&nbsp; expression&nbsp; of nociceptive neuropeptides. Trpv1 was involved in the responses. Furthermore, moxibustion caused more mast cells degranulation compared with acupuncture.</p><p><strong>Key words</strong>: Acupuncture,hot moxibustion, Mast cell, Nociceptive peptide</p><p><br/></p>