Electroacupuncture at "Neiguan"(PC6) decreased cardiac sympathetic hyperactivity and improved cardiac function in chronic myocardial ischemia model rats / 针刺研究

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the autonomic nervous mechanism of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of ischemic cardiomyopathy by observing the influence of electroacupuncture (EA) at "Neiguan"(PC6) on the superior cervical cardiac nerve activity and cardiac function in chronic myocardial ischemia (CMI) rats. METHODS: Male SD rats were randomly divided into control, model and EA groups (n＝8 in each group). The CMI model was established by ligating the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery. EA (15 Hz, 1.5 mA) was applied to bilateral PC6 for 20 min, once a day for 28 consecutive days. Cardiac sympathetic nerve electrical activities (CSNEA), electrocardiogram (ECG) of the standard limb lead Ⅱ and ultrasonic cardiogram (UCG) were recorded for observing changes of ST segment height, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS)．. RESULTS: The CSNEA was significantly increased(P<0.001), and the hight of ECG-STⅡ， LVEF and LVFS were considerably decreased in the model group relevant to the control group (P<0.01, P<0.001), while after the intervention, modeling induced increase of CSNEA and decrease of ECG-STⅡ， LVEF and LVFS were obviously suppressed in the EA group in comparison with the model group (P<0.01, P<0.05, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: EA of PC6 can improve cardiac function and myocardial ischemia in CMI rats, which is possibly related to its effect in decreasing cardiac sympathetic hyperactivity.