Effects of Electroacupuncture Preconditioning on Apoptosis and Expression of Apoptosis-related Proteins in Rats after Cerebral Ischemia-reperfusion / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) preconditioning on apoptosis after cerebral ischemia-re-perfusion (I/R). Methods A total of 72 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group (n=24), model group (n=24) and EA group (n=24). The rats in latter two groups were occluded the right middle cerebral arteries for two hours and reperfused. EA group was treated with EA at Baihui (GV20) for two weeks before modeling. They were as-sessed with modified Neurological Severity Scores (mNSS) 24 hours after modeling. Then, the cerebral infarct volume was measured with TTC staining, the apoptosis was detected with TUENL assay, and the expression of p53, Bax and Bcl-2 proteins in ischemic penumbra was detected with Western blotting. Results Compared with the model group, the score of mNSS, cerebral infarct volume and the number of TUNEL-posi-tive cells all significantly decreased (P<0.05) in EA group; while the expression of p53 and Bax proteins de-creased (P<0.05), Bcl-2 increased (P<0.05), and Bax/Bcl-2 decreased (P<0.05).Conclusion EA preconditioning can induce tolerance to cerebral I/R injury, which might associate with the inhibition of p53 protein and down-regulation of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in ischemic penumbra, to inhibit cerebral cell apoptosis.