In this study, a knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rat model induced by monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) was used to study the effect of moxibustion on improving knee cartilage damage and its effect on the intestinal flora. The experimental rats were divided into the normal group (N), model group (M), moxibustion treatment group (MS), and diclofenac sodium treatment group (DS). After 4 weeks, cartilage pathological damage in the knee joint was evaluated using hematoxylin-eosin and safranin O-fast green staining analysis. ELISAs and Western blots were used to detect the expression levels of IL-1β and TNF-α in the serum and cartilage, respectively. The total DNA of the fecal samples was extracted and subjected to high-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene to analyze the changes in the intestinal flora. In the model group, the cartilage was obviously damaged, the expression levels of IL-1β and TNF-α in the serum and cartilage were increased, and the abundance and diversity of the intestinal flora were decreased. Moxibustion treatment significantly improved the cartilage damage and reduced the concentration of inflammatory factors in the serum and cartilage. The high-throughput sequencing results showed that compared to the model group, the moxibustion treatment regulated some specific species in the intestinal microorganisms rather than the α diversity. In conclusion, our findings suggest that moxibustion treatment may work through two aspects in rats. On one hand, it directly acts on knee cartilage to promote repair, and on the other hand, it regulates the composition of the intestinal flora and reduces the production of inflammatory factors.

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The effect of electroacupuncture PC6 (Neiguan) combined with puerarin nanocrystal preparation (PUE-NP) on myocardial injury and autophagy in a rat model with myocardial ischemia was explored in this study. PUE-NPs were first prepared, and there was an analysis on the fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), particle size distribution of nanocrystalline preparation, Zeta potential, and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) characterization, so as to analyze the difference in the in vitro cumulative release rate of PUE and PUE-NPs. Secondly, Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were taken as the subjects investigated. Besides, they were divided randomly into a sham surgery group (Sham), a myocardial ischemia model group (Model), an electroacupuncture Neiguan acupoint pretreatment model group (EA+M), an electroacupuncture Neiguan acupoint pretreatment combined with PUE treatment model group (EA+PUE+M), and an acupuncture Neiguan point pretreatment combined with PUENPs treatment model group (EA+PUE-NPs+M). Then, the rats were treated with abdominal anesthesia, and their serums were extracted to detect the differences in serum creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentrations. After the rats were sacrificed, myocardial tissues were taken out, and the Western blot, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were employed to detect apoptosis index, pathological changes of myocardial tissue morphology, and expression differences of autophagy-related protein, such as Beclin-1, LC3, and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). It was found that the average particle size of PUE-NPs was 155.9±17.3 nm, and the average Zeta potential was −15.3±2.1 mV. FTIR and XRD maps displayed that PUE-NPs nanoparticles were successfully prepared, and had a longer lasting in vitro release rate compared with PUE bulk drugs. The results of animal experiments indicated that the myocardial infarction area, serum LDH and CK-MB concentration, and myocardial cell apoptosis index, LC3II/I ratio, mTOR phosphorylation level, and Beclin-1 protein expression level of rats from the EA+M group, EA+PUE+M group, and EA+PUENPs+ M group reduced sharply compared with the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the EA+M group, the above indicators of rats from the EA+PUE+M group and EA+PUE-NPs +M group dropped steeply (P < 0.05). Besides, the above indicators of rats from the EA +PUE-NPs+M group were lower obviously than those indicators of the EA+PUE+M group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the above results revealed that the combination of electroacupuncture PC6 (Neiguan) and PUE preparation could improve myocardial cell apoptosis and autophagy levels in rats with myocardial ischemia, while the improvement effect of combining PUE-NPs was more marked.