The Effects And Mechanisms Of Acupuncture On The Function Of Neurovascular Unit In Cerebral Ischemic Injury

With the progress of population aging, ischemic neurovascular disease has becomeone of the diseases that seriously endanger human health. Because of the advantage ofacupuncture in safety, convenience and economy, the number of stroke patients receivingacupuncture treatment in foreign countries is increasing year by year while there is evenmuch more high proportion of stroke patients who accept acupuncture and moxibustiontherapy in China. Therefore, acupuncture has gradually become a routine treatment ofstroke worldwide. It was found in studies that cerebral ischemia has complicatedpathophysiological changes which involve the structural damages and malfunction of cellsincluding astrocytes, microvascular endothelial cells and neurons. So the concept ofneurovascular unit was introduced. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate further themechanisms of acupuncture treatment for stroke from the perspective of neurovascularunit. This would provide a totally new idea for the mechanism research of acupuncturetherapy of stroke and the experiment foundation for the clinical application.Objective: To investigate the effects and mechanisms of acupuncture on the cerebralmicrocirculatory flow and energy metabolism, the influence of acupuncture on activationof astrocytes by electro-acupuncture at Neiguan and Quchi, which will provide a totallynew idea for the mechanism research of acupuncture therapy of stroke and experimentfoundation for the clinical application。Methods: Focal cerebral ischemia rat model was established using suture-occludedmethod. The effect of acupuncture on the recovery of nerve function damage, theactivation of astrocyte, pial microcirculatory blood flow, the content of brain glutamate,the mRNA expression of mGluRs and CYP2C11was observed after acupuncture for14days with the methods of neurological behavior score, microcirculation,immunohistochemistry, real-time quantitative PCR and western blot analysis. Through theabove research, the effects and the mechanisms of acupuncture on the astrocytes of MCAO rat in regulating the cerebral microcirculatory blood flow was investigated. Theeffect of acupuncture on the content of lactate and pyruvic acid, the expression of GFAP,GLUT1, MCT1and MCT2was observed to study the effects and the mechanisms ofacupuncture on the astrocytes of MCAO rat in regulating brain energy metabolism. Theresults were analyzed with software SPSS19.0.Results: The acupuncture at Neiguan and Quchi significantly improved the recoveryof the nerve function damage in MCAO rat. The pial microcirculatory blood flow and thecontent of pyruvic acid in ischemic cerebral tissue rose, and the expression of GFAP,GLUT1, and GFAP mRNA, GLUT1mRNA, mGluRs mRNA, CYP2C11mRNA wasup-regulated. The acupuncture at Neiguan and Quchi drastically reduced the excessiveglutamate and lactate in ischemic tissue in MCAO rat.Conclusion: Astrocytes can be activated by the acupuncture at Neiguan and Quchi,which could promotes the expression of mGluRs and CYP2C11mRNA leading to theincrease of the pial microcirculatory blood flow. On the other hand, the activation of theastrocytes promotes the use of the lactate in ischemic tissue leading to the decrease of it.In brief, acupuncture could regulate the function of neurovascular unit, which may be oneof the mechanisms that the acupuncture can improve ischemic stroke.