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Background: Sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve remodeling play an important role in cardiac function after myocardial ischemia (MI) injury. Increasing evidence indicates that electroacupuncture (EA) can regulate cardiac function by modulating the autonomic nervous system (ANS), but little is known about its effectiveness on neural remodeling post-MI. Objectives: To investigate the role of EA in ANS remodeling post-MI. Methods: Adult male C57/BL6 mice were equally divided into the Control (Ctrl), MI and EA groups after generating the MI model by ligating the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Echocardiography and 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium (TTC) staining were employed to evaluate cardiac function and infarct size after EA treatment for five consecutive days. Serum norepinephrine (NE) levels were measured by ELISA to quantify sympathetic activation. Then, ANS remodeling was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC), RT-qPCR, and Western blotting. Results: Our preliminary findings showed that EA increased ejection fraction and fractional shortening and reduced infarct area after MI injury. Serum NE levels in the EA group were significantly decreased compared with those in the MI group. IHC staining results demonstrated that the density of growth associated protein (GAP)43 and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive nerve fibers in the EA group were decreased with increased choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VACHT). Meanwhile, the results verified that mRNA and protein expression of GAP43 and TH were significantly inhibited by EA treatment in the MI mice, accompanied by elevated CHAT and VACHT. Conclusions: EA treatment could improve cardiac function and reduce infarct size by modulating sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve remodeling post-MI, thus helping the cardiac ANS reach a new balance to try to protect the heart from further possible injury.

Much evidence suggests that gut immunity homeostasis plays a vital role in regulating neuroinflammatory response under ischemic stroke. Acupuncture is an effective treatment for post-stroke rehabilitation. However, little is known about the effect of acupuncture on intestinal injury after stroke. Herein, we observed the intestinal inflammatory response and barrier's impairment of the post-stroke rats to explore the mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) against cerebral ischemia injury from the brain-gut axis. Rats were randomized to the sham operation group (SHAM), the middle cerebral artery occlusion group (MCAO), and the MCAO plus EA treatment group (MEA). Triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining and Longa neurologic score were performed to evaluate the outcomes after ischemic stroke. Inflammatory factors expression levels in the serum, ischemic hemisphere brain, and small intestine were detected. Additionally, the morphology change of small intestine was evaluated via analyzing villus height and smooth muscle thickness. Meanwhile, the expression of tight-junction proteins, including Zonula Occludens-1(ZO-1), Occludin and Claudin-1, was detected to evaluate the impact of EA on mucosal permeability in the small intestine. The percentage of Treg cells (CD45+CD4+Foxp3+) and γδ T cells (CD45+CD4−γδ T +) were measured to assess the effect of EA on T cells. Our data showed that EA could significantly decrease the brain infarction volume and intestine barrier injury of the ischemic stroke rats. At the same time, it effectively suppressed the post-stroke inflammation response of the ischemic brain, small intestine, and peripheral serum. More importantly, EA treatment increased the percentage of Treg cells in the small intestine while reducing the rate of γδ T cells, and ultimately increased the ratio of Treg/ γδ T cells. These results suggested that EA could ameliorate intestinal inflammation damage by regulating the Treg/ γδ T cell polarity shift and improving the intestine barrier integrity post-stroke. It may be one of the mechanisms underlying the anti-ischemic injury effects of acupuncture on stroke.

Acupuncture promotes the recovery of neurological function by the overall improvement of ischemic brain injury. It is not only regarded as a rehabilitative treatment but also a pretreatment method for stroke. However, its mechanism has not been fully elucidated. In this study, rats were treated with electroacupuncture (EA) at Baihui (GV20) for 30 min/day for 6 days, ahead of conducting cerebral ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury. Infarction volume, Evans blue leakage, and neurological deficits were evaluated at 24 h after I/R injury. Then, the ipsilateral ischemic brain was isolated for RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify molecular consequences. The results showed that EA pretreatment decreased blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, reduced brain infarction volume, and improved neurological outcomes. EA pretreatment could upregulate expression of antivirus and immunity activity-associated genes (such as Ifit1, Ifit3, Irf7, and Oasla) and downregulate expression of matrix disruption-associated genes (Col24a1, Col11a1, Col27a1, etc.) in healthy rats. In addition, it could partially reverse or ameliorate genome-wide transcription changes of the ipsilateral ischemic brain. For the first time, this study provides insight into genomic network modulation of a healthy rat with EA treatment and a EA-preconditioned rat under subsequent I/R injury, which is helpful in explaining acupuncture precondition-induced ischemic tolerance of stroke. It also provides new strategies and targets for the prevention of ischemic stroke.

Background. Simple obesity has become a global risk to health of human beings. Acupuncture, as one of traditional Chinese medicine therapies, has been widely used in obesity treatment in recent years. However, the individual heterogeneity which makes acupuncture’s efficiency unstable leads to some controversy. So more evidence-based results are necessary to judge the effectiveness of acupuncture in treatment of simple obesity. Compared with clinical trials, animal experiments are controllable, and the underlying mechanism is more likely to be explored. Last but not the least, more and more experimental studies on acupuncture for animal obesity have been published. Therefore, we conducted the systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating simple obesity in animal experiments. Methods. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) on acupuncture for simple obesity animal models were searched from six databases: PubMed, MEDLINE, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Date, and CMB from inception to February 2017 and updated on April 12, 2019. RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. Treatment effects were summarized as relative risk (RR) and Standard mean difference (SMD) with 95% of confidence interval (CI). Results. A total of 108 trials involving 5731 rats were included. Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture had better effect on reducing weight (SMD -2.60, 95%CI: -2.93 to -2.26, p Conclusions. Our review provided positive evidence of acupuncture for simple obesity. Unfortunately, none of the firm conclusions can be drawn due to methodological flaws, high heterogeneity, and publication bias. More high-quality trials are needed in future to get objective conclusions.

To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on food intake, body weight, number of taste bud cells and the expression of lipid taste bud receptor (CD36), Gα-gustducin, post-synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) and neurofilament light chain (NFL) proteins in the tongue or hippocampus in obese rats, so as to explore its mechanism underlying reducing body weight.A total of 30 male SD rats were randomly divided into control, model and EA groups (The body weight, Lee's index and daily food consumption were significantly higher in the model group than in the control group (EA can reduce daily food consumption and body weight in obese rats, which is associated with its effects in down-regulating the expression of CD36 in taste buds and hippocampus, and up-regulating the expression of Gα-gustducin in the tongue, and PSD95 and NFL proteins in the hippocampus. It suggests that EA may regulate the feeding behavior of obese rats by influencing the cognitive memory mechanism involved in CD36 in hippocampus.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41387-021-00153-4

Background. Cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) is a highly prevalent symptom, which afflicts vast majority of patients who suffer from cancer. The current treatment options failed to achieve satisfactory effect and the side effects were prominent. Recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of animal demonstrate the benefit of acupuncture for CIBP. We sought to determine if the pooled data from available RCTs supports the use of acupuncture for CIBP. Methods. A literature search for randomized controlled trials was conducted in six electronic databases from inception to May 31, 2019. Meta-analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.3 software; the publication bias was assessed by Stata 12.0 software. We used random effects model for pooling data because heterogeneity is absolute among studies to some extent. Results. Twenty-four trials were included in the review, of which 12 trials provided detailed data for meta-analyses. Preliminary evidence indicates that compared to wait list/sham group, acupuncture was effective on increasing paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) and paw withdrawal latency (PWL). Compared to medicine, acupuncture was less effective on PWT, but as effective as medicine on PWL. Acupuncture can reinforce medicine’s effect on PWT and PWL. Compared to the control group, acupuncture was superior to increase body weight (BW), decrease spinal cord glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Furthermore, some studies showed acupuncture delay or partially reverse morphine tolerance. Three studies found acupuncture has no effect on PWT, but 2 of them found acupuncture could enhance small dose of Celebrex’s effect on CIBP. Conclusions. Acupuncture was superior to wait list/sham acupuncture on increasing PWT and has no less effect on increasing PWL compared to medicine; acupuncture improved the efficacy of drugs, increased the CIBP animals’ body weight, and decreased their spinal cord GFAP and IL-1β. High-quality studies are necessary to confirm the results.

To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) pretreatment on the cardiac ejection fraction (EF), the number of macrophages in spleen and heart, and the expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in myocardium in mice with acute myocardial ischemia, and to explore the possible mechanism of EA pretreatment on promoting myocardial protection.A total of 30 male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into a control group, a model group and an EA pretreatment group, 10 rats in each group. The acute myocardial ischemia model was established by ligating the left anterior descending branch of the coronary artery in the model group and EA pretreatment group, while threading but no ligating at left anterior descending branch of the coronary artery was applied in the control group. In the EA pretreatment group, mice were intervented with EA at bilateral "Neiguan" (PC 6), disperse-dense wave, frequency of 2 Hz/15 Hz, intensity of 2 mA; each EA treatment last for 20 min, once a day, and 3-day treatment was given before model establishment. The EF value was evaluated by ultrasonic cardiogram; the number of macrophages in spleen and heart was measured by flow cytometry; the expression level of NLRP3 and IL-1β in myocardium was measured by Western blot.Compared with the control group, the EF value was decreased in the model group (EA pretreatment could reduce the number of macrophages in spleen and heart, down-regulate the expression of NLRP3 and IL-1β in myocardial tissue in mice with acute myocardial ischemia, which could relieve the local inflammatory response and achieve the myocardial protective effect.

Stroke is a neurological disease with high rates of mortality and disability. The pathogenesis of stroke is acute focal injury of the central nervous system, leading to impaired neural function. Ischemic stroke accounts for the majority of cases. At present, the exact molecular mechanism of ischemic stroke remains unclear. Studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have an important regulatory role in biological processes, participating in the regulation of transcription and affecting the processing and splicing of mRNAs. Abnormal lncRNA expression is associated with various diseases, including diseases of the nervous system. To identify and verify the key lncRNAs in ischemic stroke, we downloaded gene expression data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) and obtain differentially expressed lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs by bioinformatics analysis. Cytoscape was used to reconstruct a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network on the basis of the competitive endogenous RNA theory. We performed Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses of the mRNAs regulated by lncRNAs in the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. The resulting lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was composed of 91 lncRNA nodes, 70 mRNA nodes, 21 miRNA nodes, and 288 edges. GO analysis and KEGG pathway analysis have shown that 191 GO terms and 23 KEGG pathways were enriched. Finally, we found that four key lncRNAs were highly correlated with ischemic stroke and could be used as potential new targets for treatment.

The therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on inflammatory pain has been well recognized clinically, but the mechanism is unclear. Interleukin-10 (IL-10), which is produced by regulatory T (Treg) cell, is a key anti-inflammatory cytokine for relieving inflammatory pain. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether EA could inhibit CFA-induced pain and attenuate inflammation progression by regulating the activation of immunocyte and inducing the expression of IL-10. In this study, mice were treated with EA (2/100 Hz, 2 mA) for five consecutive days after 1 day of CFA injection. The behavioral tests were measured and analyzed after the daily EA treatment; then, hind paw, spinal cord, and spleen tissues were prepared for assessment. The results showed that EA treatment significantly increased the mechanical threshold and thermal latency after CFA injection and boosted the expression of IL-10 in paw and spinal cord tissues. EA treatment promoted Treg cells; suppressed macrophage and neutrophils cells; reduced the expression of IL-1β, NLRP3, and TNF-α; and ultimately relieved inflammatory pain. The findings suggested that the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of EA treatment could be partially associated with suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines mediated by induction of IL-10.

Mining data in depth of genome-wide sequencing data generated from pathological target tissues under disease conditions is necessary for seeking novel functional genes, and developing more biological study directions for the field. Based on our previous published RNA-seq data generated from acute myocardial ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion in rat heart, we re-analysed these two data sets using bioinformatics tools. All these raw fastq files were extracted from Illumina BCL using the Illumina CASAVA program. Four groups were obtained: UD (genes up-regulated in MI but down-regulated in I/R injury), DU (genes down-regulated in MI but up-regulated in I/R injury), UU (genes both up-regulated in MI and I/R injury), and DD (genes both down-regulated in MI and I/R injury) groups. The results showed that 304 common genes in the UD group, 236 common genes in the DU group, 318 common genes in the UU group, and 159 common genes in the DD group detected by comparing data sets of the MI and the I/R injury. We then listed the top 30 DEGs for each group, and carried out GO and KEGG analyses for enrichment and pathway studies for those top expressed genes. Further analysis of INTERPRO Protein Domains and Features enriched by DEGs showed that 20% of the Domains enriched were related to c-type lectin, and 17% of these domains are related to neurotransmitter-gated ion-channel. 15% of PFAM Protein Domains were about Neurotransmitter-gated ion-channel. There were only 8 SMART Protein Domains DEGs enriched and 37.5% of which were concerned about leucine-rich. Collagen involvement in Reactome Pathways accounted for 22.7%. We found that only a few DEGs in these two disease conditions have been reported in the literatures, suggesting that there are many new genes would be considered in the future studies. These analyses would provide some information for seeking more novel targets of these two clinic diseases, acute myocardial ischemia and myocardial ischemia/reperfusion.

Colorectal cancer, a malignant neoplasm that occurs in the colorectal mucosa, is one of the most common types of gastrointestinal cancer. Colorectal cancer has been studied extensively, but the molecular mechanisms of this malignancy have not been characterized. This study identified and verified core genes associated with colorectal cancer using integrated bioinformatics analysis. Three gene expression profiles (GSE15781, GSE110223, and GSE110224) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. A total of 87 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among GSE15781, GSE110223, and GSE110224 were identified, including 19 upregulated genes and 68 downregulated genes. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis was performed for common DEGs using clusterProfiler. These common DEGs were significantly involved in cancer-associated functions and signaling pathways. Then, we constructed protein-protein interaction networks of these common DEGs using Cytoscape software, which resulted in the identification of the following 10 core genes: SST, PYY, CXCL1, CXCL8, CXCL3, ZG16, AQP8, CLCA4, MS4A12, and GUCA2A. Analysis using qRT-PCR has shown that SST, CXCL8, and MS4A12 were significant differentially expressed between colorectal cancer tissues and normal colorectal tissues (P<0.05). Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) overall survival (OS) has shown that low expressions of AQP8, ZG16, CXCL3, and CXCL8 may predict poor survival outcome in colorectal cancer. In conclusion, the core genes identified in this study contributed to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in colorectal cancer development and may be targets for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of colorectal cancer.

Aims Electro-acupuncture pretreatment (EAP) plays a protective role in myocardial ischemia (MI) injury. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. A growing body of evidence suggests postinfarction inflammatory response directly affects the remodeling of ventricular function. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether EAP alleviates MI through NLRP3 inflammasome inhibition. Materials and methods We constructed an AMI model by ligating the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery after 3 days of EAP with C57BL/6 mice. Echocardiography and TTC staining were employed to evaluate cardiac function and infarct size after 24 h of ischemia. HE staining and immunohistochemistry were employed to determine inflammatory level. Then, inflammasome activation was detected by western blotting, and macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration were observed by flow cytometry. Key findings Our preliminary findings showed that EAP reduced the infarct area and increased fractional shortening (FS) and ejection fraction (EF) and decreased the degree of inflammation after AMI injury. Meanwhile, EAP inhibited the expression of NLRP3, cleaved caspase-1 and IL-1β in ischemia myocardial tissue, companied by inhibiting the expression of F4/80+, CD11b+, CD206low macrophages and activated M2 macrophage, and decreasing Ly-6G+CD11b+ neutrophils in ischemia myocardial and spleen tissue. Significance EAP inhibits the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, promotes M2 polarization of macrophages and reduces the recruitment of neutrophils in damaged myocardium, thereby decreases the infarct size and improves the cardiac function.

To investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), β3-adrenergic receptor (β3AR), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in myocardial tissue in ischemic myocardial injury rats, so as to reveal its underlying mechanisms in myocardial protection via anti-inflammation and sympathetic nerve remodeling.A total of 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operation (sham,Compared with the sham group, a marked myocardial infarction was found in the left ventricle tissue, accompanied with disordered arrangement of myocardial fibers and higher degree of inflammatory cell infiltration, and increased expression of IL-8, TH, β3AR and eNOS in the myocardium in the model group (EA intervention can reduce the myocardial infarct size (protective effect) in MI rats possibly by reducing inflammatory reaction and sympathetic nerve remodeling.

To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on sympathetic nerve-related substance in myocardial tissue in mice with myocardial ischemia (MI), and to explore its possible mechanism.Thirty adult male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into a sham operation group, a model group and an EA group, 10 mice in each one. The model of MI was established in the model group and EA group by ligating the left anterior descending branch of coronary artery. The mice in the sham operation group were not treated with ligating at left anterior descending branch of coronary artery, but the remaining procedure was similar with the model group. The mice in the EA group were treated with EA at "Neiguan" (PC 6) with 2 Hz/100 Hz of frequency and 2 mA of intensity, 20 min per treatment, once a day for totally 5 days. No EA was given for model group and sham operation group. The electrocardiogram was recorded and △ST value was calculated to evaluate the model. TTC staining was applied to evaluate the infarct size. Immunohistochemical (IHC) method was applied to evaluate the positive nerve fiber density in myocardial tissue. Western blot method was applied to test the protein expression levels of neuregulin-1 (NRG-1), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43).The electrocardiogram (lead II) results indicated compared with the sham operation group, the S-T segments in the model group and EA group were increased obviously (bothEA could increase the expression of NRG-1 and reduce the expression of TH and GAP-43 in myocardial tissues in MI mice, which could suppress sympathetic nerve hyperexcitability after infarction to achieve myocardial protection effect.

Objectives. Our previous study has used RNA-seq technology to show that apoptotic molecules were involved in the myocardial protection of electroacupuncture pretreatment (EAP) on the ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) animal model. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate how EAP protects myocardium against myocardial I/R injury through antiapoptotic mechanism.Methods. By using rats with myocardial I/R, we ligated the left anterior descending artery (LAD) for 30 minutes followed by 4 hr of reperfusion after EAP at the Neiguan (PC6) acupoint for 12 days; we employed arrhythmia scores, serum myocardial enzymes, and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) to evaluate the cardioprotective effect. Heart tissues were harvested for western blot analyses for the expressions of pro- and antiapoptotic signaling molecules.Results. Our preliminary findings showed that EAP increased the survival of the animals along with declined arrhythmia scores and decreased CK, LDH, CK-Mb, and cTnT levels. Further analyses with the heart tissues detected reduced myocardial fiber damage, decreased number of apoptotic cells and the protein expressions of Cyt c and cleaved caspase 3, and the elevated level of Endo G and AIF after EAP intervention. At the same time, the protein expressions of antiapoptotic molecules, including Xiap, BclxL, and Bcl2, were obviously increased.Conclusions. The present study suggested that EAP protected the myocardium from I/R injury at least partially through the activation of endogenous antiapoptotic signaling.

Acupuncture is considered to be a promising alternative therapy for depression. Nevertheless, up to now, it remains controversial on the effects exerted by acupuncture on behavioral changes in depression models. Consequently, it’s necessary to develop a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of acupuncture for model rats of depression. Ultimately, 90 studies involving 1861 models were identified. Behavioral indicators including the number of crossings (NC) and the number of rearings (NR) in open field test (OFT), the capacity of sucrose intake (CSI) and the rate of sucrose intake (RSI) in sucrose intake test (SIT), final weight (FW) and gain weight (GW) were employed as main outcomes in depression model rats. The pooled results showed that acupuncture had not less effect than western medicine on improving NC, NR, FW, GW, RSI (P > 0.05). However, the CSI improvement was poorer compared with west medicine (P

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) is a key factor for tissue growth and fuel metabolism. The potential function of central IGF1 remains unclear. We previously observed that IGF1 expression is increased in the hypothalamus of obese mice lacking STAT5 in the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, we explored the potential metabolic function of central IGF1 by intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of IGF1, over-expression of central IGF1 by administering an adeno-associated virus (AAV), and ICV injection of an anti-IGF1 antibody. Mice that over-expressed central IGF1 displayed increased appetite, improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, decreased Pomc levels in the hypothalamus, and increased UCP1 expression in brown fat tissue. This is the first study demonstrating that central IGF1 regulates several important metabolic functions.

Acupuncture is reported to be effective in treating obesity related illnesses, but its mechanism is still unclear. To investigate this mechanism we applied electro-acupuncture (EA) in a mouse model of obesity and used RNA-seq to identify molecular consequences. Deletion of the transcription factor STAT5 from neurons (Stat5NKO) led to obesity. Acupuncture, in turn, reduced body weight and the ratio of epididymal white adipose tissue (Epi-WAT) to body weight, and it also decreased plasma concentrations of glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol. In addition, EA increased cold endurance of Stat5NKO obese mice. EA reversed altered gene expressions in the hypothalamus and Epi-WAT, especially in the hypothalamus in Stat5NKO obese mice. This study provides, for the first time, insight into genomic networks of obesity and their modulation by electro-acupuncture, which in turn reveals potential mechanisms that explain acupuncture-induced weight-loss.

Background Memory loss is the most prominent symptoms of brain aging, but there is currently no evidence-based treatment strategy. Acupuncture has been widely used in China and the effectiveness for improving learning and memory has been mentioned in previous studies. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for improving learning and memory in animal experiments. Methods We searched Pubmed, Embase, Ovid Medline(R), the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP) and Wanfang data Information Site to collect studies published up to December 2015. Study quality for each included article was evaluated according to the CAMARADES 10-item checklist. Outcome measure is Morris water maze. A meta-analysis was conducted according to the Cochrane systematic review method by using RevMan 5.3 software. Results Forty-two studies involving 944 animals were included. The quality score of the studies ranged from 2 to 8, with a mean of 5.3. Meta-analysis results showed that 24 studies reported significant effect of acupuncture for decreasing escape latency (−3.00, 95 % CI: −3.78 ~ −2.23, P

Excitatory amino acids toxicity is an onset causation of cerebral ischemia injury cascade reaction, and eventually leading to brain cell necrosis and apoptosis. Acupuncture is reported to be effective for ischemic stroke in clinical practice and animal experiments, but its mechanism is still under exploring. In this paper the authors introduce the research status of antiexcitatory amino acids toxicity effect of acupuncture in ischemic stroke animals by summarizing its effects on subunits of ionotropic glutamate receptor (NMDA/AMPA) and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), and on astrocyte activities. Results indicated that acupuncture intervention may down-regulate the expression levels of cerebral multi-types (NR 1, NR 2 B) of glutamate NMDA receptors, up-regulate expression of glutamate transporter-1, NR 2 A, cannabinoid receptor (CBR) type 1 and 2, and suppress activities of cerebral astrocytes, reduce the content of extracellular glutamate to lower its toxicity and to improve stroke at last. The present paper may provide a reference for acupuncture research on ischemic brain injury.

Background Acupuncture is considered to be an effective and safe treatment for obese and overweight patients, although high-quality evidence regarding the effects of acupuncture on obesity are not conclusive. The aim of the current study is to investigate the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture plus lifestyle modification for treating obese and overweight patients, in comparison with lifestyle modification alone in China. Methods/Design To compare the effectiveness of acupuncture plus lifestyle modification, a 2-armed, controlled trial with randomization using minimization will be conducted on 150 simple obesity and overweight patients, aged 18–50 years, for a 36-week study duration. All patients will be randomly assigned to one of two groups and will receive either acupuncture plus lifestyle modification or lifestyle modification alone. Outcomes will be evaluated at baseline and at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks during treatment as well as at 6-week, 12-week, and 24-week follow-up. The primary endpoint is change of body mass index (BMI) during the 12th week. Secondary endpoints are body weight; waist-to-hip ratio; biochemical tests including serum cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels; and answers to the Short Form 36 (SF-36) and the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life Questionnaire-Lite Version (IWQOL-Lite). Statistical analyses will be based on the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle. The main endpoint will be analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and the objective outcome results will be analyzed by logistic regression analysis. To avoid potential confounding factors, additional sensitivity analyses will be conducted following these statistical analyses. Discussion This trial is the first to compare the effectiveness of acupuncture plus lifestyle modification for treating obesity relative to lifestyle modification treatment alone by using a pragmatic study design. We hope that the results of this study will contribute to advancing the current methodology of acupuncture trials for obesity and will facilitate the application of useful acupuncture strategies in real-world clinical settings. Trial registration ChiCTR-TRC-12002762. The date of registration is 31 October 2012.

To observe features of Icariin in promoting osteogenic differentiation of SD rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in vitro.(1) SD rats' BMSCs were isolated and purified by mechanically isolated and cultured by whole bone marrow adherent method. Effects of various concentrations Icariin on serum activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were detected using amino antipyrine phenol determination method at day 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21. Calcium nodes of each groups were detected using alizarin red staining. Roles of various concentrations Icariin in promoting osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs were observed. (2) BMSCs were divided into the blank control group, the osteogenic induced group, and the Icariin group (0.5 microg/mL). ALP activities were detected at day 7, 14, and 21 of culture. Meanwhile, ALP positive staining rate and calcium nodes were detected at day 14 and 21 respectively. Additionally, mRNA expressions of Runt-related transcription factor-2 (Runx2) and Osteocalcin were detected at day 7, 14, and 21 by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR.(1) 0.05-5.0 microg/mL Icariin could significantly elevate serum ALP activities. Of them, 0.2-2.0 microg/mL Icariin significantly increased calcium nodes numbers (P0.01). (2) When Icariin promoted osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, Runx2 mRNA expression levels and ALP activities increased earlier and then decreased, while osteocalcin mRNA expression levels continued to increase (P0.01). Compared with the osteogenic induced group, ALP activities and ALP positive staining rate were both elevated after 14 days of Icariin treatment in the Icariin group (P0.05, P0.01).Icariin could promote the differentiation of BMSCs to osteoblasts by up-regulating Runx2 mRNA expression levels. It also could promote the mineralization by increasing ALP secretion and Osteocalcin mRNA expression levels, thereby promoting mature of newly generated osteoblasts.

Over the past few decades, Hong Kong has gained reputation for its high-quality postgraduate education, especially in the engineering disciplines. As the previous colony of the United Kingdom, Hong Kong's tertiary education system has apparent differences with that of mainland China. This article presents a comparison of the enrolling systems, training mode, curriculum design, and schooling system of postgraduate students between these two territories. It is shown that the Hong Kong system has a number of advantages over mainland China. The conclusions provide a valuable reference for the reform of the postgraduate education system in mainland China.

This study investigated genome-wide gene expressions and the cardioprotective effects of electro-acupuncture pretreatment at the PC6 Neiguan acupoint on myocardial ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury. Male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham operation (SO), I/R, electro-acupuncture at the PC6 Neiguan acupoint pretreatment (EA) and electro-acupuncture at non-acupoint pretreatment (NA). Compared with the I/R group, the survival rate of the EA group was significantly increased, the arrhythmia score, infarction area, serum concentrations of CK, LDH and CK-Mb and plasma level of cTnT were significantly decreased. RNA-seq results showed that 725 genes were up-regulated and 861 genes were down-regulated under I/R conditions compared to the SO group, both EA and NA reversed some of these gene expression levels (592 in EA and 238 in NA group). KEGG pathway analysis indicated that these genes were involved in multiple pathways, including ECM, MAPK signaling, apoptosis, cytokine and leukocyte pathways. In addition, some pathways were uniquely regulated by EA, but not NA pretreatment, such as oxidative stress, cardiac muscle contraction, gap junction, vascular smooth muscle contraction, hypertrophic, NOD-like receptor, and P53 and B-cell receptor pathways. This study was first to reveal the gene expression signatures of acute myocardial I/R injury and electro-acupuncture pretreatment in rats.

Background Acupuncture exerts cardioprotective effects on several types of cardiac injuries, especially myocardial ischemia (MI), but the mechanisms have not yet been well elucidated. Angiogenesis mediated by VEGF gene expression and its modification through histone acetylation has been considered a target in treating myocardial ischemia. This study aims to exam whether modulation of angiogenesis through H3K9 acetylation regulation at VEGF gene is one possible cardioprotective mechanism of acupuncture. Results We generated rat MI models by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery and applied electroacupuncture (EA) treatment at the Neiguan (PC6) acupoint. Our results showed that acupuncture reversed the S-T segment change, reduced Q-wave area, decreased CK, CK-MB, LDH levels, mitigated myocardial remodeling, and promoted microvessel formation in the MI heart. RNA-seq analysis showed that VEGF-induced angiogenesis signaling was involved in the modulation of EA. Western blot results verified that the protein expressions of VEGF, Ras, phospho-p44/42 MAPK, phospho-p38 MAPK, phospho-SAPK/JNK and Akt, were all elevated significantly by EA treatment in the MI heart. Furthermore, increased H3K9 acetylation was also observed according with the VEGF. ChIP assay confirmed that EA treatment could notably stimulate the recruitment of H3K9ace at the VEGF promoter. Conclusions Our study demonstrates for the first time that acupuncture can effectively up-regulate VEGF expression through H3K9 acetylation modification directly at the VEGF promoter and hence activate VEGF-induced angiogenesis in rat MI models. We employed high throughput sequencing in this study and, for the first time, generated genome-wide gene expression profiles both in the rat MI model and in acupuncture treatment.

Background To study the influence of acupuncture and its possible mechanism on white adipose tissue of high fat diet-induced obese. Methods Four-week-old C57BL/6 J mice were randomly divided into a normal diet group and a high-fat diet (HFD) group. After 8 weeks, the HFD mice were randomly divided into Electro-acupuncture (EA) group and control group. Mice in the EA group were electro-acupunctured, under physical restraint, on Zusanli (ST36) and Neiting (ST44) acupoints, while the mice in the control group were under physical restraint only. Body weight and food intake were monitored, and serum leptin, cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured by using biochemistrical methods. The effect of EA on white adipose tissues (WAT) was assessed by qPCR, immunobloting, immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunoprecipitation and cold endurance experiment. Results The WAT/body weight ratio decreased (P