title: Effects of electroacupuncture on blood-brain barrier after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rat.
abstract: The effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) was investigated in rats. The dye Evans Blue (EB) was used as a tracer for assessing the disruption of BBB. Fluorescence quantification of EB was performed to explore the temporal pattern of permeability of BBB after the cerebral I-R with a fluorescence spectrophotometer (HITACHI 650-60). Furthermore, the morphology of BBB opening was detected under confocal laser scanning microscopy system. It was found that the BBB opening after cerebral I-R was biphasic. A rare scattered extravasation of EB was detected 2 hours after cerebral I-R. The EB extravasation reached its first peak at 6 h then decreased at 24 h and increased again at the time-point of 48h after cerebral I-R. EA can attenuate the disruption of BBB after cerebral I-R. EA could not only limit the area of extravasation of EB, but also reduce the concentration of extravasation of EB in the rat brain after cerebral I-R. The results indicated that one of the mechanisms of curative effect of EA on the cerebral ischemia might be due to its function of protecting the integrity of BBB.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Acupuncture Research (WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine), Medical School of Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000379:methods; D005070:Evans Blue; D008297:Male; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D005070:Evans Blue