title: [Effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on energy metabolism-related protein of hippocampal neuron mitochondria in Alzheimer's disease rats].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore action mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion for Alzheimer's disease (AD) to provide evidence for prevention and treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion on AD in clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty SPF-grade male Wistar rats, (200 +/- 20) g, were randomly divided into a normal group, a sham-operation group, a model group and a treatment group, 20 cases in each one. The model was duplicated with injection of Abeta1-42 in rats' hippocampus. Expect the treatment group, the rest groups were treated with regular feeding after respective intervention. The treatment group was treated with acupuncture and moxibustion at "Baihui" (GV 20) and "Shenshu" (BL 23), once a day, seven days as a treatment course and totally for two courses. There was one day of interval between the courses. The immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR methods were applied to test level of Abeta-binding alcohol dehydrogense (ABAD) and cytochrome oxidase IV (COX IV) in hippocampal neurons mitochondria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Acupuncture and moxibustion could reduce effectively level of ABAD and improve activity of COX IV in hippocampal neurons mitochondria in the treatment group, which has statistical significance compared with that in the model group (P < 0.01) and no statistical significance compared with that in the normal group and sham-operation group (P > 0.05). This indicated that acupuncture and moxibustion could effectively suppress overexpression of ABAD, improve activity of COX IV and reduce leak of reactive oxygen species, which could improve metabolic disturbance of mitochondria energy to achieve the goal of prevention and treatment of AD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevention and treatment of AD with acupuncture and moxibustion could be related with suppressing overexpression of ABAD and improving activity of COX IV in hippocampal neurons mitochondria to improve mitochondria energy metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Hubei University of TCM, Wuhan 430065, China. roly-tcm@163.com
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Hubei University of TCM, Wuhan 430065, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Jie
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hubei University of TCM, Wuhan 430065, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D015094:3-Hydroxyacyl CoA Dehydrogenases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D000818:Animals; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism; D009071:Moxibustion; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D015094:3-Hydroxyacyl CoA Dehydrogenases; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV