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Objective: To observe the effect of "Sanjiao Acupuncture Therapy" on hippocampal selective neuron loss and astrocytosis in senile accelerated mice (SAM) so as to reveal its mechanism underlying improvement of Alzheimer's disease (AD)., Methods: A total of 18 seven-month old male SAM prone 8 (SAMP 8) were selected and randomly allocated into model group, acupuncture group, and non-acupoint group. Moreover, 6 age- and sex-matched SAM resistant 1 (SAMR 1) were enrolled as the homology normal control group. For mice of the acupuncture group, "Sanjiao Acupuncture Therapy" [manual acupuncture stimulation of "Danzhong" (CV 17), "Zhongwan" (CV 12), "Qihai" (CV 6), "Zusanli" (ST 36) and "Xuehai"(SP 10)] was given, and for rats of the non-acupoint group, manual acupuncture stimulation was applied to bilateral costal region (non-acupoints, below the costal region and 10 and 15 mm superior to the iliac crest). The treatment was conducted once daily for 14 days. At the end of each experiment, the mouse's hippocampus tissue was taken out after routine perfusion and fixing for paraffin sections which were stained by toluidine blue technique for observing changes of neurons and by immunohistochemistry for analyzing glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoactivity of astrocytes., Results: Compared with the control group, a marked neuron loss was found in the model, acupuncture and non-acupoint groups (P < 0.01). The numbers of neurons of hippocampal CA 1 and CA 3 regions in the acupuncture group were significantly more than those in the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the expression level of hippocampal GFAP was markedly increased in the model group (P < 0.01). In comparison with the control group, the average expression area, optical density values and the number of GFAP-labeled astocytes were significantly upregulated in the model group (P < 0.01). While in comparison with the model group, these 3 indexes were apparently downregulated in the acupuncture group (P < 0.01) but not in the non-acupoint group except the average expression area, suggesting a reduction of hippocampal astrocyte activity after acupuncture intervention. A negative correlation was found between the expression level of GFAP and the number of astrocytes., Conclusion: "Sanjiao Acupuncture Therapy" can lower or delay neuron loss, suppress astrocytosis, and regulate the relationship between neuron and astrocyte, which may contribute to its function in relieving AD.

Aging is the greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Age-dependent alterations of cell signaling play an important role in the onset of AD. The serine/threonine kinase Akt is a critical cell signaling to neuronal survival. Using the senescence-accelerated mouse SAMP10, we investigated the effect of aging on AKT signaling in hippocampus tissue. During aging, the expression of Akt mRNA and protein remained stable. However, the constructive phosphorylation of Akt(Ser473) displayed a continuous decrease after 6 months in SAMP10. When compared with the control SAMR1, aged SAMP10 mice showed significant reduced phosphorylation of Akt(Ser473). SAMP10 at the age of 6 months showed obvious deterioration in performance of learning and memory tasks. Thus, the data reported here suggested a potential link between the age-related alteration of Akt(Ser473) and the deterioration in performance of learning and memory tasks in SAMP10 mouse.

Objective: To observe the effect of acupuncture on p130 expression in neocortex and hippocampus of Senescence Accelerated Mouse/Prone (SAMP) 10 so as to explore its underlying molecular mechanism in treating dementia and aging-related diseases., Methods: Thirty SAMP 10 were randomly divided into model, acupuncture, and non-acupoint groups with 10 cases in each, and 10 SAM/Resistant (SAMR)1 were used as normal control group. The needle manipulation of "Yi Qi Tiao Xue, Fu Ben Pei Yuan" (Reinforcing qi and blood, and strengthening the body resistance) was applied to "Shanzhong" (CV 17), "Zhongwan" (CV 12), "Qihai" (CV 16), "Xuehai" (SP 10) and "Zusanli" (ST 36), once daily for two weeks. p130 expression of neocortex and hippocampus was assayed by western blotting technique., Results: In SAMR 1 control group, p 130 expression in the neocortex and hippocampus exhibited an age-related stable upregulation from month 2 to 12, being significantly from the 6= month (neocortex) on and 8th month (hippocampus) on respectively (P < 0.05, 0.01). In SAMP 10 group, hippocampal and neocortical p130 expression exhibited an age-related downregulation change in the same period, fluctuating in about 6th month (downregulated remarkably in hippocampus, P < 0.01; upregulated markedly in neocortex, P < 0.01). In comparison with SAMR 1 (8 months old) group, p130 expression in hippocampus in SAMP 10 model group was upregulated significantly (P < 0.05); while that in neocortex downregulated considerably (P < 0.05). The expression of p 130 in neocortex in acupoint-acupuncture group was significantly higher than that in SAMP 10 model and non-acupoint acupuncture groups (P < 0.05). No significant differences were found between acupoint- and non-acupoint acupuncture groups in hippocampal p 130 expression, and between non-acupoint acupuncture and SAMP 10 model groups in neocortical p 130 expression (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Along with the increase of aging, p 130 expression in both hippocampus and neocortex increases gradually in SAMR 1, while decreases in SAMP 10, in spite of fluctuating at month 6 in age. Acupuncture can beneficially regulate the aberrant expression of p130 in neocortex of 8-month-old SAMP 10.

The senescence-accelerated mouse strain P6 (SAMP6) is an inbred mouse that represents a clinically relevant model of senile osteoporosis. However, whether osteoporotic SAMP6 mice have cognitive deficits remains largely unexplored. Here, we used Morris water maze to assess reference memory and working memory performance in SAMP6 mice and SAMR1 controls, at 4 and 8 months of age. In addition, unbiased stereological techniques were used to estimate total neuron number in hippocampal CA1 subfield of the mice used in the behavioral study. Morris water maze test revealed impairments in working memory but not in reference memory of the 4- and 8-month-old SAMP6 mice compared with the SAMR1 mice at the same age. However, there were no significant differences in the total numbers of neurons in hippocampal CA1 subfield when comparing 4-month-old SAMR1 and 4-month-old SAMP6 and 8-month-old SAMR1 and 8-month-old SAMP6, which indicate that, in SAMP6 mice, the structural correlates of working memory deficits are to be found in parameters other than the number of neurons in hippocampal CA1 subfield. These findings suggest that SAMP6 mice exhibit selective cognitive deficits and highlight the importance of this mouse model for studying the brain alterations associated with osteoporosis.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of acupuncture on cognitive deficits and oxidative stress in cerebral multi-infarction rats. The results showed that acupunctural treatment attenuated memory impairment induced by cerebral multi-infarction, as evaluated by shortened escape latency and increased swimming time of rats with memory impairment in the target quadrant. The data additionally suggested that acupunctural treatment ameliorated oxidative injuries induced by cerebral multi-infarction by increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the hippocampus. Further investigation by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry revealed that acupunctural treatment significantly increased the expression of CuZnSOD mRNA and protein in the hippocampus of the impaired rats. The findings demonstrate that acupuncture can exert beneficial effects on spatial memory and antioxidant status of cerebral multi-infarction rats. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common cause of dementia in the world today. In this paper, we observed the effect of acupuncture on memory impairment, apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in hippocampus of cerebral multi-infarction rats. The results indicated that acupuncture significantly improved memory impairment induced by cerebral multi-infarction, as evaluated by shortened escape latency and increased swimming time in the target quadrant. Meanwhile, based on the observation in hippocampal CA1 region through methods of the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase nick end labeling (TUNEL), immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, acupuncture decreased the number of apoptotic cells and expression of the proapoptotic Bax gene, on the contrary, it increased expression of the antiapoptotic gene Bcl-2. The result of the research suggested that acupuncture can exert antiapoptotic effect through counter-regulating Bcl-2 and Bax gene expression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]