Effects of electroacupuncture on skeletal muscle and blood glucose in rats with diabetic amyotrophy / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on skeletal muscle and blood glucose in rats with diabetic amyotrophy.@*METHODS@#Among 40 SD rats, 10 rats were randomly selected into the control group and received no treatment. The remaining 30 rats were treated with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg) to establish diabetes mellitus (DM) model, and then the rats were treated with vascular ligation at right posterior limb to establish amyotrophy model. The rats with diabetic amyotrophy were randomly divided into a model group and an EA group, 10 rats in each group (10 rats were excluded due to unsuccessful model establishment and death). The rats in the EA group was treated with EA at right-side "Yishu (EX-B 3)" "Shenshu (BL 23)" "Zusanli (ST 36)" and "Sanyinjiao (SP 6)", disperse-dense wave, 2 Hz/ 15 Hz, 20 minutes each time, once a day for 3 weeks. Before and after EA treatment, the blood sample was collected from inner canthus and the "glucose oxidase-peroxidase" method was used to detect fasting blood glucose level; ELISA method was used to detect insulin content. At the end of the treatment, HE staining method was used to observe the morphology of ischemic skeletal muscle in the right hindlimb; the real-time PCR method was used to detect the mRNA expression of muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx), muscle ring finger-1 (MuRF1) and forkhead box O3a (FOXO3a) in the ischemic skeletal muscle tissue of right hindlimb.@*RESULTS@#Before the treatment, the body mass in the model group and EA group was lower than that in the control group (<0.01); after the treatment, the body mass in the control group was increased, while the body mass in the model group and EA group was decreased (<0.01). Compared with the control group, the fasting blood glucose was significantly increased and insulin content was significantly decreased in the model group (<0.01); compared with the model group, the fasting blood glucose was significantly decreased and the insulin content was significantly increased in the EA group after treatment (<0.01). The muscle fibers of the model group were obviously broken, the number of the nuclei decreased, and the nuclei shrinked or even dissolved; the morphology of the muscle tissue of the EA group after intervention was improved compared with the model group. Compared with the control group, the cross-sectional area of ischemic skeletal muscle cells in the right hindlimb in the model group was decreased (<0.01); compared with the model group, the cross-sectional area of ischemic skeletal muscle cells in the right hindlimb was increased in EA group (<0.05). Compared with the control group, the levels of MAFbx, MuRF1 and FOXO3a mRNA in the right hindlimb ischemic skeletal muscle in the model group were increased significantly (<0.01, <0.05); compared with the model group, the levels of MAFbx, MuRF1 and FOXO3a mRNA in the EA group were decreased significantly (<0.05, <0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#EA may play a role in the treatment of diabetic amyotrophy by inducing FOXO3a to reduce the transcription of MAFbx and MuRF1.

Type I and Ⅱ Cardiorenal Syndrome-related Biomarkers / 中国实验方剂学杂志

The physiology and pathology of the heart and kidney are interdependent and interact with each other, and dysfunction of any one of them causes dysfunction of the other, namely cardiorenal syndrome, in which type I and type Ⅱ have the highest incidence rate and are the commonest in clinic. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history of treating the cardiorenal syndrome. It believes that the disease is located in the heart and kidney, and Wenyang Yiqi, Huoxue Lishui and other methods shall be adopted to effectively improve the heart and kidney function of patients. However,the pathogenesis of cardiorenal syndrome is complicated, and the clinical manifestations are diverse, which makes it difficult to diagnose and treat in the early stage, and causes missing of the best intervention timing and a poor prognosis. Biomarkers play a vital role in predicting the occurrence and development of cardiorenal syndrome. Therefore, efforts shall be made to look for biomarkers with better specificity and sensitivity, accurately evaluate physiological and pathological changes in heart and kidney, so as to achieve early diagnosis and early intervention of cardiorenal syndrome, and improve the effect of disease diagnosis and treatment. At present, domestic and foreign scholars have studied and applied more markers mainly in renal tubular injury, including neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, kidney injury molecule-1 and urinary interleukin-18. In addition, other studies have found cell cycle arrest inducing factors, such as insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7, tissue inhibitor metallo proteinase-2, and fibroblast growth factor 23 associated with mineral metabolism. The increase of the content of these biomarkers in the body is earlier than the rise of serum creatinine, which can better predict the occurrence of early cardiorenal syndrome, and has a high application value and research value. After summarization of the biomarkers relating to type I and Ⅱ cardiorenal syndrome in domestic and foreign literatures, the research progress of several representative markers were reviewed to provide reference for related research.