Effect Of Electroacupuncture Preconditioning On Inflammatory Factors And High-mobility Group Box-1 In Rats With Hepatic Ischemiareperfusion Injury

Objective:To explore the effect of electroacupuncture(EA)preconditioning on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury(HIRI)and the expression of high-mobility group box-1(HMGB 1)in liver tissue of rats with a hepatic portal blockade.Methods:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group,HIRI group,BL18 group,BL18+GB34 group,BL18+PC6 group,BL18+LR3 group,and non-acupoint(NAP)group,with 10 rats in each group.The arteries,veins,and bile ducts supplying the middle lobe and left lobe of the liver was clamped by the non-invasive arterial clip for 1 h,and reperfusion for 4 h after the occlusion was removed to establish a 70%HIRI rat.The corresponding acupoints were taken from both sides of the rats in the BL18 group,BL18+G34 group,BL18+PC6 group,and BL18+LR3 group and the connective tissue area 6～8 mm near from the side of the BL18 acupoint on both sides was also chosen in the non-meridian and NAP group.The five groups were all given EA stimulation for 30 min before modeling.In the sham group,the rats were only sutured after 1 h exposure to hilar laparotomy after anesthesia fixation,without any other intervention operation.Serum ALT and AST levels were measured,and serum tumor TNF-α,IL-6,and HMGB 1 levels were assayed by ELISA.Hematoxylin-eosin(H.E.)staining was used to observe histopathological changes of the liver tissue by using tissue injury scaling(0-3 scores).IHC staining,Western blot and Q-PCR were used to detect the expression of HMGB 1 in liver tissues.Results:(1)Following HIRI and compared with the sham group,serum levels of ALT,AST,IL-6,TNF-α,and HMGB 1,the number of HMGB1~+cells,and HMGB 1 protein and m RNA were increased(all P<0.01).(2)The liver injury score and the level of ALT,AST,TNF-αand IL-6 in BL18group,BL18+GB34 group,BL18+PC6 group,and BL18+LR3 group were lower than those in HIRI group and NAP group(all P<0.05).(3)The transaminase,TNF-α,and IL-6 levels of the BL18+GB34 group were lower than those of the BL18 group(P<0.05),while there were no statistical difference between the other three groups(P>0.05)(4)After the treatment,the contents of serum HMGB 1,liver HMGB 1 IR-positive cells,protein,and m RNA were considerably down-regulated in the BL18+GB34group,compared with the HIRI group.(5)The level of serum HMGB 1 in the NAP group was higher than that in the BL18+GB34 group(P<0.05),and the number of HMGB1 positive cells and the expression of HMGB1m RNA and protein in liver tissue were all higher than those in the BL18+GB34 group(P<0.05).Conclusions:The effect of electroacupuncture preconditioning on reducing hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats varies with the compatibility of acupoints.The compatibility of BL18 and GB34 acupoints could play a better role in anti-hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury,and this protective effect might be exerted by inhibiting the expression of HMGB1 in hepatocytes and down-regulating the level of related inflammatory factors.