Effect of Tuina Manipulation on the Expression of CD68 and MMP-2 in Rabbits with Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque / 中医杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo explore the effect of tuina manipulation with different cervical rotation angle on carotid atherosclerosis. MethodsTwenty-five New Zealand rabbits were randomly selected， 5 of which as the control group， and the other 20 rabbits as the modeling group. The modeling group were made by arterial intimal balloon injury combined with high-fat diet， and were randomly divided into model group， cervical rotation angle of 90° group， cervical rotation angle of 105° group and cervical rotation angle of 120° group （5 rabbits in each group） after successful modeling. After relaxing the neck muscles of rabbits with manipulation of one-finger meditation， rolling and dialing， the cervical vertebrae of each group was rotated by 90°， 105°and 120° respectively for 2 weeks， while the other two groups were not intervened. Then took the entire length of the left common carotid artery from the rabbit， observed the pathological morphology of the carotid artery tissue using HE staining， and observed the expression of CD68 and MMP-2 in the carotid artery tissue using immunohistochemistry staining， and conducted semi quantitative analysis. ResultsHE staining showed that there was no obvious pathological change in the carotid artery in the control group； the model group showed subintimal foam cells gathered， vascular smooth muscle cells increased and arranged disorderly， and some vascular smooth muscle cells entered the intima from the media to form a fibrous cap. Compared with the model group， the number of foam cells increased and the symptoms of lumen stenosis were improved in all groups of cervical rotation； compared with the group with 90°rotation， the endothelium tended to fall off slightly in the group with 105°rotation and 120°rotation. Compared with the control group， the model group and the cervical rotation angle of 90° group ， cervical rotation angle of 105° group and cervical rotation angle of 120° group showed an increase in positive expression of CD68 and MMP-2 （P＜0.05）； compared with the model group， the positive expression of CD68 and MMP-2 in the cervical rotation angle of 90° group， cervical rotation angle of 105° group and cervical rotation angle of 120° group decreased （P＜0.05）； there was no statistically significant difference in CD68 positive expression among cervical rotation angle of 90° group， cervical rotation angle of 105° group and cervical rotation angle of 120° group compared in pairs （P＞0.05）； the positive expression of MMP-2 in the group of cervical rotation angle of 105° group and cervical rotation angle of 120 °group was higher than that in cervical rotation angle of 90° group （P＜0.05）. ConclusionTuina manipulation can promote the stability of plaque by reducing the CD68 content of macrophages and the level of MMP-2 in plaque； but as the rotation angle of the cervical spine increased， the expression of MMP-2 may increase， which may reduce the plaque stability to a certain extent and affect the therapeutic effect of tuina.