Medullary ventrolateral nitric oxide mediates the cardiac effect of electroacupuncture at "Neiguan" acupoint on acute myocardial ischemia in rats.
Experiments were performed on male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats anesthetized with a mixture of urethane and chloralose. A rat model of acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) was made by ligation of the left anterior descending branch of the coronary artery (LAD). After the LAD ligation, the ischemia area of the left ventricular wall became somewhat pale immediately. Under a light microscope, the pathological examination revealed that all the cells were swollen and in red color when the cardiac section was stained with hematoxylin basic fuchsin picric acid (HBFP), which indicated a typical change in the myocardial ischemia. In the AMI model, it was found that cardiac functions were markedly attenuated, such as decreases in the heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), maximal rate for left ventricular pressure rising and declining (+/-dp/dt(max)), velocity of contractile element (V(CE)) and total area of cardiac force loop (L(0)), and an increase in the left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP). In such AMI rats, application of electroacupuncture (EA) at "Neiguan" acupoints (Pe 6) for 20 min could obviously improve the above-mentioned cardiac functions. After microinjection of nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), was made into the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), the curative effect of EA on myocardial ischemia was reduced significantly or abolished, while after microinjection of normal saline of the same volume was made into the RVLM, the improving effect of EA remained. These results suggest that the effect of EA on myocardial ischemia is possibly mediated by the nitric oxide (NO) in the RVLM.
Lu
Juan-Xiu
JX
Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Zhou
Pei-Hua
PH
Wang
Jin
J
Li
Xia
X
Cao
Yin-Xiang
YX
Zhou
Xu
X
Zhu
Da-Nian
DN
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000818:Animals; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000378:metabolism; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016276:Ventricular Function
D009569:Nitric Oxide