Electroacupuncture reduces apoptotic index and inhibits p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in the hippocampus of rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury
Xiao Lan
Xin Zhang
Guo-ping Zhou
Chun-xiao Wu
Chun Li
Xiu-hong Xu
摘要：Electroacupuncture attenuates cerebral hypoxia and neuronal apoptosis induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. To further iden-tify the involved mechanisms, we assumed that electroacupuncture used to treat cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury was associated with the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. We established rat models of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury using the modified Zea-Longa's method. At 30 minutes before model establishment, p38 MAPK blocker SB20358 was injected into the left lateral ventricles. At 1.5 hours after model establishment, electroacupuncture was administered at acupoints of Chize (LU5), Hegu (LI4), Zusanli (ST36), and Sanyinjiao (SP6) for 20 minutes in the affected side. Results showed that the combination of EA and SB20358 injec-tion significantly decreased neurologic impairment scores, but no significant differences were determined among different interventional groups. Hematoxylin-eosin staining also showed reduced brain tissue injuries. Compared with the SB20358 group, the cells were regularly arranged, the structures were complete, and the number of viable neurons was higher in the SB20358 + electroacupuncture group. Termi-nal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay showed a decreased apoptotic index in each group, with a significant decrease in the SB20358 + electroacupuncture group. Immunohistochemistry revealed reduced phosphorylated p38 expression at 3 days in the electroacupuncture group and SB20358 + electroacupuncture group compared with the ischemia/reperfusion group. There was no significant difference in phosphorylated p38 expression between the ischemia/reperfusion group and SB20358 group. These find-ings confirmed that the electroacupuncture effects on mitigating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury are possibly associated with the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. A time period of 3 days could promote the repair of ischemic cerebral nerves.
机标关键词：cerebral ischemiasignaling pathwayneuronal apoptosiscerebral hypoxiaprotein kinase
资助基金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China, (No. 81173355)
论文发表日期：2017-01-01
在线出版日期：2025-08-15（本平台首次上网日期，不代表文献的发表时间）
页数：8( 409-416 )
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