Research Article Acupuncture Stimulation at GB34 Restores MPTP-Induced Neurogenesis Impairment in the Subventricular Zone of Mice Hyongjun Jeon, 1,2 Sun Ryu, 2 Dongsoo Kim, 1,2 Sungtae Koo, 1,2 Ki-Tae Ha, 1,2 and Seungtae Kim 1,2 1 Department of Korean Medical Science, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do 50612, Republic of Korea 2 Korean Medicine Research Center for Healthy Aging, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do 50612, Republic of Korea Correspondence should be addressed to Seungtae Kim; kimst@pusan.ac.kr Received 13 January 2017; Revised 7 April 2017; Accepted 26 April 2017; Published 16 May 2017 Academic Editor: Bonghyo Lee Copyright © 2017 Hyongjun Jeon et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Adult neurogenesis has recently been considered a new therapeutic paradigm of Parkinson’s disease. In this study, we investigated whether acupuncture restores 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine- (MPTP-) induced impaired neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ). Male C57BL/6 mice were given 30 mg/kg of MPTP intraperitoneally once a day for 5 days, afer which they were intraperitoneally injected with 50mg/kg of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and given acupuncture stimulation at HT7 or GB34 for 12 consecutive days. Dopaminergic neuronal survival in the nigrostriatal pathway and cell proliferation in the SVZ was then evaluated by immunostaining. MPTP administration induced dopaminergic neuronal death in the nigrostriatal pathway, which was suppressed by acupuncture stimulation at GB34. MPTP administration also suppressed the number of BrdU-positive cells and glial fbrillary acidic protein/BrdU-positive cells and increased the number of doublecortin/BrdU-positive cells in the SVZ, which were restored by acupuncture stimulation at GB34. Tese results indicate that acupuncture stimulation at GB34 restores MPTP-induced neurogenesis impairment. 1. Introduction Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a frequently observed neurode- generative disease that aficts the elderly and is characterized by selective loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons of substantia nigra (SN) and striatum [1, 2]. DA neurons play a central role in the control of motor functions and their loss causes behavioral dysfunctions such as akinesia, tremor, bradykine- sia, rigidity, and postural instability [3]. It is well known that several factors including aging, infammation, and oxidative stress can trigger PD, but the mechanism remains unclear [4]. Neurogenesis, which is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem cells and progenitor cells, has been shown to occur in special zones of adult brain including the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus [5–7]. Interestingly, reduced proliferation of SVZ cells was observed in PD patients [8], suggesting that PD suppresses neurogenesis in the brain. Promotion of neurogenesis and replacement of dead DA neurons with new ones in the brains of PD patients would help alleviate PD symptoms. Terefore, adult neurogenesis has recently been considered a new therapeutic paradigm of PD. When neurogenesis occurs, several types of progenitor cells are observed. Type A cells are proliferating neuroblasts that form chains to migrate, while type B cells are similar to astrocytes morphologically [9]. Doublecortin (DCX), a brain-specifc microtubule-associated protein [10], is consid- ered a marker of type A migratory neuroblasts, while glial fbrillary acid protein (GFAP) is a marker of type B astrocytic cells. Acupuncture is widely used in East Asia and considered an alternative therapy for PD [11], although recent studies have shown that acupuncture treatment has neuroprotective efects and alleviates behavioral dysfunctions in a PD mouse model [12, 13]. And recently, acupuncture has been suggested Hindawi Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2017, Article ID 3971675, 9 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3971675