title: Electroacupuncture improves cardiac function and remodeling by inhibition of sympathoexcitation in chronic heart failure rats.
abstract: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, mainly as a result of neurohumoral activation. Acupuncture has been used to treat a wide range of diseases and conditions. In this study, we investigated the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on the sympathetic nerve activity, heart function, and remodeling in CHF rats after ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. CHF rats were randomly selected to EA and control groups for acute and chronic experiments. In the acute experiment, both the renal sympathetic nerve activity and cardiac sympathetic afferent reflex elicited by epicardial application of capsaicin were recorded. In the chronic experiment, we performed EA for 30 min once a day for 1 wk to test the long-term EA effects on heart function, remodeling, as well as infarct size in CHF rats. The results show EA significantly decreased the renal sympathetic nerve activity effectively, inhibited cardiac sympathetic afferent reflex, and lowered the blood pressure of CHF rats. Treating CHF rats with EA for 1 wk dramatically increased left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular fraction shortening, reversed the enlargement of left ventricular end-systolic dimension and left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, and shrunk the infarct size. In this experiment, we demonstrated EA attenuates sympathetic overactivity. Additionally, long-term EA improves cardiac function and remodeling and reduces infarct size in CHF rats. EA is a novel and potentially useful therapy for treating CHF.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Luyao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Baiping
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Buqing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Weiran
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Yonggang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China; shijiangzhang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Shijiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002211:Capsaicin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000379:methods*; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018689:Sensory System Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018689:Sensory System Agents; D002211:Capsaicin
keywords: cardiac sympathetic afferent reflex; electroacupunture; heart failure; renal sympathetic nerve activity