Acupuncture Can Regulate the Peripheral Immune Cell Spectrum and Inflammatory Environment of the Vascular Dementia Rat, and Improve the Cognitive Dysfunction of the Rats

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to analyze the effects of acupuncture on peripheral immune function, inflammation, and cognitive impairment in vascular dementia (VD) rats.MethodsIn this study, 2-month-old healthy male Wistar rats (260–280 g) were assigned to the groups as follows: normal group (Gn, n = 10), sham-operated group (Gs, n = 10), and operated group (Go, n = 45). The Go group was established by permanent, bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO). Two months after operation, the operated rats were screened by hidden platform trial and the rats with cognitive dysfunction were further randomly divided into impaired group (Gi), acupoint group (Ga), and non-acupoint group (Gna) with 10 rats in each group. The Ga group was given acupuncture treatment for 14 days with a rest for every 7 days. After treatment, the Morris water maze (MWM) test was performed to evaluate the spatial learning and memory abilities of rats. The lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood and spleen of rats were measured by flow cytometry. The levels of cytokines [i.e., interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interferon-γ (INF-γ)], chemokines (i.e., macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2)), and other inflammatory mediators (i.e., cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)) in peripheral blood and hippocampus were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).ResultsCompared with the Gn group, the Gi rats presented long escape latencies to find the platform. After acupuncture treatment, the escape latencies of the Ga group were rescued markedly when compared with the Gi group (P < 0.05). The proportion of CD4 + T lymphocytes in both spleen and peripheral blood in the Ga group increased (P < 0.05) in comparison with the Gi group. There is an obvious reduction in IL-1β (P < 0.05), IL-2 (P < 0.05), TNF-α (P < 0.01), INF-γ (P < 0.01), MIP-2 (P < 0.05), and iNOS (P < 0.01), coming along with the increased levels of IL-4 and IL-10 (P < 0.01) in the Ga group when compared with the Gi group. In addition, the hippocampus proinflammatory factors IL-1β (P < 0.01), IL-2 (P < 0.01), TNF-α (P < 0.05), INF-γ (P < 0.05), MIP-2 (P < 0.05), iNOS (P < 0.01), and COX-2 decreased in the Ga group, whereas the anti-inflammatory factors IL-4 and IL-10 (P < 0.01) increased.ConclusionThere are abnormal immune function and peripheral inflammation in VD rats. Acupuncture can regulate the peripheral immune function and inflammation of the VD rats and can improve the cognitive dysfunction of the rats.

Efficacy of acupuncture in animal models of vascular dementia: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

“…Fourty-two articles were included in this meta-analysis, including 30 in English (Wang et al, 2004 , 2015 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Zhao et al, 2011 ; Zhu et al, 2012 , 2013 , 2018 ; Feng et al, 2013 ; Yang et al, 2014 , 2018b , 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2014 ; Li et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Lin et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; Ye et al, 2017b ; Du et al, 2018 ; He et al, 2018 ; Su et al, 2019 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Wang L. et al, 2020 ; Wang Z. et al, 2020 ; Zheng et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Wang H. L. et al, 2021 ; Bu et al, 2022 ) and 12 in Chinese (Li and Lai, 2007 ; Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Niu et al, 2009 ; Tian et al, 2015 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Zhang et al, 2017 ; Yang et al, 2019 ; Gao et al, 2020 ; Guo et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Chen et al, 2022 ; Xu and Zhang, 2022 ). The publication year of the article was from June 2004 to April 2022.…”

“…Methods of surgical modeling: There are 4 surgical modeling methods involved in this study, including 23 articles in the literature using bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (2VO) (Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Zhu et al, 2012 , 2013 , 2018 ; Yang et al, 2014 , 2018b , 2019 , 2020 ; Wang et al, 2015 ; Li et al, 2016 , 2021 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Ye et al, 2017b ; Gao et al, 2020 ; Guo et al, 2020 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Wang L. et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Chen et al, 2022 ; Xu and Zhang, 2022 ), 8 articles in the literature using 4-vessel occlusion (4VO) (Wang et al, 2004 ; Li and Lai, 2007 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Niu et al, 2009 ; Tian et al, 2015 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Zhang et al, 2017 ; Bu et al, 2022 ), 3 articles in the literature using embolic occlusion (EO) (Zhao et al, 2011 ; Zhang et al, 2014 ; Li et al, 2015 ), and 8 articles in the literature using middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) (Feng et al, 2013 ; Lin et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; He et al, 2018 ; Su et al, 2019 ; Wang Z. et al, 2020 ; Zheng et al, 2020 ; Wang H. L. et al, 2021 ). Among them, 24 articles clearly stated the total number of the models and the number of successful models (Wang et al, 2004 ; Li and Lai, 2007 ; Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Feng et al, 2013 ; Zhu et al, 2013 ; Li et al, 2016 , 2021 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Lin et al, …”

“…Outcomes: All literatures have escape latency as an important outcome in the water maze, of which 23 included the number of original platform crossings (Wang et al, 2004 ; Li and Lai, 2007 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Niu et al, 2009 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Feng et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2014 , 2017 ; Tian et al, 2015 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Lin et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; He et al, 2018 ; Su et al, 2019 ; Yang et al, 2019 ; Gao et al, 2020 ; Guo et al, 2020 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Wang Z. et al, 2020 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Wang H. L. et al, 2021 ; Bu et al, 2022 ; Xu and Zhang, 2022 ), 11 literatures (Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Li et al, 2016 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Ye et al, 2017b ; Zhu et al, 2018 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Yang et al, 2020 ; Zheng et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Xu and Zhang, 2022 ) calculated the time spent in target quadrant, and 7 literatures (Li et al, 2015 ; Wang et al, 2015 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; Yang et al, 2018b , 2020 ; Wang L. et al, 2020 ; Wang Z. et al, 2020 ) calculated the swimming speed.…”

“…Acupuncture methods: two types were included, manual acupuncture (MA) (Zhao et al, 2011 ; Yang et al, 2014 , 2018b , 2019 , 2020 ; Li et al, 2015 , 2016 , 2021 ; Tian et al, 2015 ; Wang et al, 2015 ; Ye et al, 2017b ; Du et al, 2018 ; Zhu et al, 2018 ; Su et al, 2019 ; Gao et al, 2020 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Wang L. et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Xu and Zhang, 2022 ) and electroacupuncture (EA) (Wang et al, 2004 ; Li and Lai, 2007 ; Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Niu et al, 2009 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Zhu et al, 2012 , 2013 ; Feng et al, 2013 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; Zhang et al, 2017 ; He et al, 2018 ; Guo et al, 2020 ; Wang Z. et al, 2020 ; Zheng et al, 2020 ; Wang H. L. et al, 2021 ; Bu et al, 2022 ; Chen et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Frequency of acupoint use and frequency of acupoint combination: All literature clearly pointed out acupuncture points. According to statistics, Baihui (GV20) (Wang et al, 2004 , 2015 ; Li and Lai, 2007 ; Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Zhu et al, 2012 , 2013 , 2018 ; Feng et al, 2013 ; Li et al, 2016 , 2021 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Lin et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; Ye et al, 2017b ; Zhang et al, 2017 ; Du et al, 2018 ; He et al, 2018 ; Yang et al, 2018b , 2019 , 2020 ; Su et al, 2019 ; Gao et al, 2020 ; Guo et al, 2020 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Wang L. et al, 2020 ; Wang Z. et al, 2020 ; Zheng et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Bu et al, 2022 ; Chen et al, 2022 ), bilateral Zusanli (ST36) (Zhao et al, 2011 ; Zhang et al, 2014 ; Li et al, 2015 , 2016 , 2021 ; Wang et al, 2015 ; Ye et al, 2017b ; Du et al, 2018 ; Yang et al, 2018b , 2020 ; Zhu et al, 2018 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Wang L. et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Pan et al, 2021 ; Xu and Zhang, 2022 ) and Dazhui (GV14) (Wang et al, 2004 ; Li and Lai, 2007 ; Lin and Wang, 2008 ; Shao et al, 2008 ; Wei et al, 2011 ; Zhu et al, 2012 , 2013 ; Han et al, 2017 ; Jiang et al,…”