Therapeutic effect and mechanism of electroacupuncture at Zusanli on plasticity of interstitial cells of Cajal: a study of rat ileum

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Xiao-yan Zhu¹  Chao Wang¹  Kun Li¹  Mei-fang Peng²  Yong-hua Wang³  Lin Zhang³  Pei-hong Wang³  Li-jun Tang³  Guo-hu Zhang³  Zheng Yang⁴ 

[1] Basic Laboratory for PLA medical center, Chengdu General Hospital of Chengdu Military Area Command, 610083, Chengdu, China;Basic Laboratory for PLA medical center, Chengdu General Hospital of Chengdu Military Area Command, 610083, Chengdu, China;Insititute of Biotechnology and Nuclear Technology, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 610061, Chengdu, China;Center of General Surgery, Chengdu General Hospital of Chengdu Military Area Command, 270 Rongdu Rd.,Tianhui Town, 610083, Jinniu District, Chengdu, China;Department of Preclinical Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, 610500, Chengdu, China;

关键词: Electroacupuncture;    Plasticity;    DOG1;    Inflammatory mediators;    c-Kit signaling;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-186

 received in 2013-09-25, accepted in 2014-05-21,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundElectroacupuncture (EA) is one of the techniques of acupuncture and is believed to be an effective alternative and complementary treatment in many disorders. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects and mechanisms of EA at acupoint Zusanli (ST36) on the plasticity of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) in partial bowel obstruction.MethodsA Sprague Dawley rat model of partial bowel obstruction was established and EA was conducted at Zusanli (ST36) and Yinglingquan (SP9) in test and control groups, respectively. Experiments were performed to study the effects and mechanisms of EA at Zusanli on intestinal myoelectric activity, distribution and alteration of ICCs, expression of inflammatory mediators, and c-Kit expression.Results1) EA at Zusanli somewhat improved slow wave amplitude and frequency in the partial obstruction rats. 2) EA at Zusanli significantly stimulated the recovery of ICC networks and numbers. 3) the pro-inflammatory mediator TNF-α and NO activity were significantly reduced after EA at Zusanli, However, no significant changes were observed in the anti-inflammatory mediator IL-10 activity. 4) EA at Zusanli re-expressed c-Kit protein. However, EA at the control acupoint, SP9, significantly improved slow wave frequency and amplitude, but had no effect on ICC or inflammatory mediators.ConclusionsWe concluded that EA at Zusanli might have a therapeutic effect on ICC plasticity, and that this effect might be mediated via a decrease in pro-inflammatory mediators and through the c-Kit signaling pathway, but that the relationship between EA at different acupoints and myoelectric activity needs further study.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Peng et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.