Effect of Scalp Needling at Different Time Points on Focal Cerebral Microcirculation in Rats with Ischemia Induced by Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion / 广州中医药大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effect of scalp needling at different time points on focal cerebral microcirculation in rats with focal ischemia and reperfusion ( I-R). Methods One hundred SD rats were randomized into normal group, sham operation group, model group and scalp needling group. The model group and scalp needling group were divided I-R 12, 24, 48 and 72 h subgroups according to the time of ischemia and reperfusion, 10 rats in each subgroup. The normal group had no oper ation, sham operation only had the operation for vessel isolation, and model group and scalp needling group received middle cerebral artery occlusion with thread. Scalp needling group also had electro-acupuncture on scalp points along vertex and temple anterior linea oblique and posterior linea oblique. And then we observed the neurological severity scores (NSS) and detected the cerebral blood flow ( CBF) in the focal ischemic brain with laser Doppler blood stream meter before I-R and 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after I-R. Immunofluorescence method was used for counting the focal ischemic cerebral microvascular endothelial cells, and then the correlation of cerebral microvascular endothelial cells count with the cerebral blood flow volume was evaluated with Pearson correlation analysis. Results NSS in scalp needling group was lower than that in the model group (P0.05). Except for reperfusion for 24 hours, CBF in scalp needling group was higher than that in the model group at different time points ( P<0.05 or P<0.01). Microvascular endothelial cells count in scalp needling group was higher than that in the model group after reperfusion for 24, 48 and 72 hours ( P<0.05 or P<0.01). In the model group and scalp needling group, cerebral blood flow volume was positively correlated with microvascular endothelial cells count. Conclusion Scalp needling shows obvious effect on improving the microcirculation, increasing CBF and cerebral microvascular endothelial cells count, and promoting the recovery of ischemic tissues of rats after I-R.