Electroacupuncture Exerts Anti-inflammatory Effects In Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Via TLR4/NF-κB Pathway

Inflammatory response has been shown to play a critical important role in brain damage after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, which is tightly regulated by TLR4/NF-κB pathway; therefore, suppression of TLR4/NF-κB signaling has become a promising target for the anti-inflammatory treatment in ischemic stroke. Acupuncture has been used as a complementary and alternative therapy practice that supplements conventional medicine. A large number of studies have demonstrated the clinical efficacy of acupuncture in stroke rehabilitation. However, the precise mechanism of its neuroprotective effect remains poorly understood. The purpose of present study is to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of electroacupuncture on the paralyzed limb using a focal cerebral I/R injured rat model. We found that electroacupuncture at Quchi (LI11) and Zusanli (ST36) acupoints significantly improved the ischemia-associated scores of neurological deficits, reduced cerebral infarction and improved inflammatory responses. Moreover the crucial signaling molecules in TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway were regulated by acupuncture, which coincided with suppressed secretion levels of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6. Our data suggest that electroacupuncture exerts neuroprotective function in ischemic stroke through inhibition of TLR4/NF-KB-mediated inflammation.