| Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are one of the major threats to human health, of which morbidity and mortality are at the forefront of all diseases. It has the characteristics of sudden onset, critical symptoms, poor prognosis and so on during acute onset. While chronic disease process will require long-term drug control. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases bring great inconvenience to the lives of the majority of patients, but also bring great burden on medical resources. With the improvement of the living standard, the increasing of the social pressure and the aging problem in our country, the diseases of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular become the most major problem in Chinese medical industry. Atherosclerosis is a chronic pathological process, which takes place in the vicinity of large and medium-sized arteries, and is characterized by lipid accumulation and plaque, the presence of AS is the basis for the development of many kinds of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Therefore, it is critical to find the pathogenesis of AS and study the key factors in the pathological process, which can guide the clinical control of cardiovascular diseases. Though many years of research on the pathogenesis of AS, it is well documented that the pathological process of AS is very complex, involving lipid metabolism, blood dynamic factors, endothelial injury, inflammatory reaction and so on. An increasing number of studies declare that the inflammatory response plays an important role in the formation of AS, which is also a pointcut for the current AS research.The clinic for control of atherosclerosis drugs including hypolipidemic drugs, such as phenoxy acid, niacin and statin; antioxidant and antiplatelet aggregation drugs, however,with the long-term application of these drugs, the body will appear different degrees of adverse reactions.Consequently, to seek complementary alternative therapy, leading no side effects, is one of the necessary ways to fight against AS. Moxibustion therapy, as an important part of Chinese medicine, has been playing an important role in Chinese medical and health care. In China, related research and our previous studies have proved that moxibustion can regulate fat, cholesterol metabolism and other ways to inhibit the inflammatory reaction and other links to inhibit the pathological development of AS. The purpose of this experiment was to observe AS model mice of intra aortic plaque pathology after moxibustion therapy, and the role of inflammatory cytokines, to explore the anti-inflammatory mechanism of Moxibustion in AS process.ObjectiveTo study the effect of moxibustion on atherosclerosis and to explain their effect mechanism on inflammation and plaque stability.MethodsTo establish atherosclerosis model by APOE Gene Knockout mice with high-fat diet feeding. Then Forty-eight APOE-/-mice (8 weeks old) were randomly divided into moxibustion group、model group、medicine control group; Sixteen same age C57BL/6 mice were used as blank controls.Mice in the blank control and model control group were handled and intervened with sham moxibustion everyday.Mice in the moxibustion group were handled and treated with moxibustion on Dan Zhong (RN17) point while the mice in medicine control group were intervened by gavage. All the manipulations were done once each day,6 days each week,14 weeks totally. Then the mice were sacrificed to text. Elisa method was used to test the level of VCAM-1、ICAM-1、TNF-α、IL-10、MMP-9;Red oil "O" stain were used to observe the plague in the thoracic aorta, and the pathological changes in liver.Results1.Level of biochemical criterion in aorta:Compared with the model group, the VCAM-1、 ICAM-1、TNF-α、MMP-9 levels of moxibustion group and medicine control group were decreased significantly (p<0.05),there is no significant difference between the moxibustion group and medicine control group.Compared with the model group, IL-10 levels were increased significantly (p<0.05) in medicine control group, while IL-10 levels in moxibustion group showed a trend of increase, but no significant difference.2.The pathological changes in the thoracic aorta plaque and liver:Compared with the black group, AS plague could be obviously seen in the thoracic aorta, pathological changes including intimal destruction, medium thickness, smooth muscle cell degeneration, lumen stenosis. While pathological changes include swelling of liver cells degeneration, inflammatory invasion, fat droplets, and the tendency of hemorrhage and necrosis. Both moxibustion and medicine intervention could alleviate the pathological process in AS.Conclusion1.Moxibustion could alleviate atherosclerosis, inhibit the growth of plague.2.Moxibustion could inhibit inflammation in the body, which may be one of the mechanisms of their anti-atherosclerosis effect.3.The anti-atherosclerosis effect of moxibustion to AS may have early effect while moxibusion also contributes to plaque stability. |
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