Neuroprotective Effects of Different Modalities of Acupuncture on Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can induce a series of histological, biochemical, and functional changes. Acupuncture is commonly used for SCI patients. Using male rats of spinal cord injury with the New York University (NYU) Impactor, we investigated the response of electroacupuncture (EA), manual acupuncture (MA), and transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (TAES) at Shuigou (DU26) and Fengfu (DU16) acupoints to understand the effects and mechanisms of acupuncture in neuroprotection and neuronal function recovery after SCI. Histological study showed a restored neural morphology and an increase in the quantity of neurons after EA, MA, and TAES administrations. Acupuncture's antioxidation effects were demonstrated by alleviation of the post-SCI superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increase and malondialdehyde (MDA) level decrease. The anti-inflammation effect of acupuncture was shown as the reduced expression of inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) when SCI was treated. And the antiapoptosis role was approved by TUNEL staining. Our data confirmed that the role of acupuncture in neuroprotection and dorsal neuronal function recovery after rat SCI, especially, EA stimulating at Shuigou (DU26) and Fengfu (DU16) can greatly promote neuronal function recovery, which may result from antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and antiapoptosis effects of acupuncture.

Avaliação Do Efeito Da Acupuntura E Técnicas Afins E Perfil Clínico E Epidemiológico De Cães Com Doenças Neurológicas E Osteomusculares Atendidos Em Serviço De Reabilitação Veterinária

“…O trauma raquimedular foi o terceiro padrão com melhor resposta terapêutica constatada neste estudo, tal como no estudo de Joaquim et al (37) Essa melhora pode dever-se aos efeitos antioxidantes, antiinflamatórios e antiapoptose da AP que promoveram a neuroproteção e a recuperação da função neural dorsal em traumas medulares em ratos (39) . Uma metanálise (40) evidenciou que a AP neste tipo de lesões em humanos apresentou efeitos benéficos na reabilitação neurológica, na função motora e na recuperação funcional.…”

Early electroacupuncture treatment ameliorates neuroinflammation in rats with traumatic brain injury

“…In a study by Cheng et al, acupuncture at the Baihui (GV 20) and Dazhui (GV14) acupoints significantly downregulated the expression of TNF-α, GFAP, S100B, and nuclear factor-kB in the ischemic cortical penumbra [8]. Jiang et al selected Shuigou (GV 26) and Fengfu (DU16) for acupuncture treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury and found that EA had anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic effects as indicated by reduced expression of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF- α [9]. Gu et al treated patients that had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) at Hegu (LI 4), Neiguan (PC6), Zusanli (ST 36), and Yanglingquan (GB 34), and found that the TNF-α levels decreased significantly at 3 days after LC [20].…”

“…Previous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of EA on stroke [6–8], spinal cord injury [9], arthritis [10], and sciatica [11]. Recently, we have demonstrated that application of EA 60 min post-TBI has neuroprotective effects on neuronal cells.…”

Acupuncture as a Treatment Modality in Dermatology: A Systematic Review

“…Studies on rats have shown decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokinesincluding tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin-1b, and interleukin-6-after stimulation with acupuncture. [45][46][47][48][49] The underlying mechanism of these findings is unclear, but suppression of cytokine synthesis via outputs from the HPA axis has been proposed. 38 The mechanism through which acupuncture may treat chloasma (or melasma) has not been as extensively studied.…”