Effects of Moxibustion Pretreatment on Caspase-3 Expression in Cortex of Rats with Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury / 天津医药

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effect of moxibustion pretreatment on caspase-3 expression in cortex of rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods Twenty-one male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups, sham group (n=6), model group (n=8) and moxibustion pretreatment group (n=7). Focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury rat model was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 2 hours followed by reperfusion. Brain infarct was ex-amined by TTC staining. Brain morphology was shown by HE staining and the ultrastructure of cell was observed with elec-tron microscope. Caspase-3 expression in cortex was examined by immunofluorescence histochemistry. Results The per-centage of infarct volume [(24.9±4.7)%] in moxibustion pretreatment group was much smaller than that [(45.8±4.6)%] in mod-el group. Nerve cells in moxibustion pretreatment group experienced less morphological and structural changes than those in model group, and caspase-3 positive cells (39.17 ± 7.28) in moxibustion pretreatment group were less than those (58.17 ± 16.53) in model group. Conclusion Moxibustion pretreatment could attenuate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, which might be through decreasing caspase-3 expression.