Acupuncture in Medicine. 35(6):430–436, DEC 2017
DOI: 10.1136/acupmed-2016-011121
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PMID: 28624772
Issn Print: 0964-5284
Publication Date: 2017/12/01
Effects of electroacupuncture on the cortical extracellular signal regulated kinase pathway in rats with cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion
Chunxiao Wu;Chun Li;Guoping Zhou;Lu Yang;Guimei Jiang;Jing Chen;Qiushi Li;Zhulian Zhan;Xiuhong Xu;Xin Zhang;
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1 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China2 School of Acupuncture & Moxibustion and Tui-na, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan Province, China3 Traditional Chinese Medicine-Integrated Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China4 The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
Abstract
To explore the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on the phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase (p-ERK) pathway of the cerebral cortex in a rat model of focal cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R).160 adult Sprague-Dawley rats underwent middle carotid artery occlusion (MCAO) to establish I/R injury and were randomly divided into four groups (n=40 each) that remained untreated (I/R group) or received EA at LU5, LI4, ST36 and SP6 (I/R+EA group), the ERK inhibitor PD98059 (I/R+PD group), or both interventions (I/R+PD+EA groups). An additional 40 rats undergoing sham surgery formed a healthy control group. Eight rats from each group were sacrificed at the following time points: 2 hours, 6 hours, 1 day, 3 days and 1 week. Neurological function was assessed using neurological deficit scores, morphological examination was performed following haematoxylin-eosin staining of cortical tissues, and apoptotic indices were calculated after terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated biotin-16-dUTP nick-end labelling. Cortical protein and mRNA expression of p-ERK and ERK were measured by immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative PCR, respectively.Compared with the I/R group, neurological deficit scores and apoptotic indices were lower in the I/R+EA group at 1 and 3 days, whereas mRNA/protein expression of ERK/p-ERK was higher in the EA group at all time points studied.Our results suggest that EA can alleviate neurological deficits and reduce cortical apoptosis in rats with I/R injury. These anti-apoptotic effects may be due to upregulation of p-ERK. Moreover, apoptosis appeared to peak at 1 day after I/R injury, which might therefore represent the optimal time point for targeting of EA.
