ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Acupuncture has been confirmed to be effective in treating Parkinson disease both clinically and experimentally, but there is still lack of systematical and complete therapeutic principle and law to be followed in clinic.OBJECTIVE: To observe the influence on glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde(MDA)and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in corpus striatum of the damaged side in rat models of Parkinson disease by acupuncture at subthalamus.DESIGN: A randomized controlled animal experiment.SETTING: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in the Experimental Animal Center of Heilongjiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January to June in 2003. Eighteen healthy adult Wistar rats of pure breed were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 rats in each:electroacupuncture group, model group and normal saline group.METHODS: ① Model group: The rats were made into models of Parkinson disease with damaged corpus striatum by injecting 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA, 12 μg), which was dissolved in 5 μL normal saline containing 2 g/L ascorbic acid, slowly into caudal putamen. without intervention. ②Normal saline group: 6-OHDA was replaced by normal saline of the same dosage, and other treatments were the same as those in the model group. ③ Electroacupuncture group: The model preperation was the same as that in the model group. The needles were embedded in subthalamus at 6 weeks postoperatively, and then electroacupuncture (in frequency of 100 Hz, and the intensity about 1 mA) was given one week later for 2 weeks, once a day,15 minutes for each time.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: All the rats were killed by cutting heads to remove brain under anesthesia at 2 weeks after electroacupuncture, and the activities of GSH, GSH-Px, SOD and NOS and the concentration of MDA were detected with chromatometry.RESULTS: All the 18 rats were involved in the analysis of results. ① MDA concentration was higher in the model group and electroacupuncture group than in the normal saline group [(5.53±0.71),(4.10±0.27), (5.53±0.71) μmol/L, P ＜ 0.01], but lower in the electroacupuncture group than in the model group (P ＜ 0.05). ② The activities of GSH and GSH-Px were both lower model group and electroacupuncture group than in the normal saline group (P ＜ 0.01), but lower in the electroacupuncture group than in the model group (P ＜ 0.05).③ The activity of SOD was higher in the model group and electroacupuncture group than in the normal saline group [(113.36±2.17),(73.85±5.17), (42.34±1.83) μkat/g, P ＜ 0.01], but lower in the electroacupuncture group than in the model group (P ＜ 0.01).CONCLUSION: The anti-oxidation capability of the rat models of Parkinson disease has been recovered and the nerve injury has been reduced after acupuncture, indicating that it is available and effective to treat Parkinson disease by acupuncture at subthalamus.