ABSTRACT
To explore the mechanisms of scalp acupuncture in treating cerebral ischemia in rats.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the underlying mechanisms of scalp electroacupuncture (SEA) in treating cerebral ischemia. Methods A total of 70 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into a sham operated group, a model group and a scalp electroacupuncture (SEA) group. Cerebral ischemia was induced in rats by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Rats in SEA group were treated with scalp electroacupuncture immediately after the establishment of the cerebral ischemia model by inserting the needles along anterior oblique line of vertex-temporal and posterior oblique line of vertex-temporal, connecting to the Han's Electro-Acupuncture Apparatus. The rats in sham operated group underwent the same operation as that in SEA group but without occlusion. Neurological severity score (NSS) was obtained to evaluate the neurofunctional defect, hemetoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the inflammatory infiltration in cerebral tissue, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) to measure the contents of IL-1 beta and IL-10 at various time points. Results SEA group demonstrated significant decline in NSS at 72 h after the operation when compared with that of model group (P < 0. 01 ). An apparent attenuation in in-flammatory infiltration was seen in SEA group comparing with that of model group, especially at 48 h and 72 h after operation (P <0.01 ). Apparent decrease in IL-lbeta in SEA group was observed when comparing with the model group at 72 h (P <0.01 ). Statistically significant increase in IL-10 content was seen in SEA group at 48 h and 72 h after operation comparing with that of model group. Conclusions Scalp electroacupuncture might exert brain pro-tection by suppressing leukocytes infiltration via up-regulation of IL-10 and down-regulation of IL-1 beta expression.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) at Fenglong (GV 16) on body weight, blood lipids, nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin (ET) in rats with hyperlipidemia (HLP). METHODS: Eighty Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group (fed normal diet), untreated group (fed a high-fat diet), EA-treated group (fed a high-fat diet plus EA therapy) and pravastatin-treated group (fed a high-fat diet plus pravastatin tablet). There were 20 rats in each group. The body weight and the blood content of total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), NO the and ET of the rats in different groups were measured before experiment and after 30-day treatment. A modified method of cardiac puncture for blood sampling was used for blood collection. RESULTS: Compared with the normal control group, the body weight and the levels of TC, TG, LDL-C and ET in the untreated group were significantly elevated (P0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both EA therapy and pravastatin have efficient regulation of body weight and the content of TC, TG, LDL-C and NO in HLP rats. To some extent, they are able to regulate the imbalance between ET and NO content under the condition of HLP. Western medicine such as pravastatin can regulate the HDL-C level in HLP rats, while the effect of EA therapy on regulation of the HDL-C level is limited.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of scalp acupuncture (SA) in treating cerebral ischemia. METHODS: Sixty SD rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were randomized into untreated group and SA-treated group, with another group of 10 SD rats without artery occlusion as sham-operated control. Neurological severity score (NSS), hemetoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were applied to observing the changes of neurofunctional defect, inflammatory infiltration in cerebral tissue and content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and IL-10 at 24, 48 and 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion. RESULTS: There existed significant difference in NSS between SA-treated group and untreated group (P<0.01), especially at 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion. The HE staining results of ischemic cerebral tissue showed an apparent reduction of inflamed lesions in SA-treated group as compared with the untreated group (P<0.01), especially at 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion. The content of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta at each phase point after ischemia-reperfusion in SA-treated was decreased as compared with that in the untreated group, and there were differences between SA-treated group and untreated group at 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion (P<0.01). An apparent increase was observed in IL-10 between SA-treated group and untreated group at each phase point after ischemia-reperfusion, and there were significant differences between SA-treated group and untreated group at 48 and 72 h after ischemia-reperfusion (P<0.05, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Scalp acupuncture can improve neurofunctional rehabilitation, suppress leukocyte infiltration, decrease the content of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta within a certain range and enhance IL-10 expression so as to suppress cytokines-mediated inflammatory reaction and attenuate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.