title: Neuroprotective effects of different modalities of acupuncture on traumatic spinal cord injury in rats.
abstract: Spinal cord injury (SCI) can induce a series of histological, biochemical, and functional changes. Acupuncture is commonly used for SCI patients. Using male rats of spinal cord injury with the New York University (NYU) Impactor, we investigated the response of electroacupuncture (EA), manual acupuncture (MA), and transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (TAES) at Shuigou (DU26) and Fengfu (DU16) acupoints to understand the effects and mechanisms of acupuncture in neuroprotection and neuronal function recovery after SCI. Histological study showed a restored neural morphology and an increase in the quantity of neurons after EA, MA, and TAES administrations. Acupuncture's antioxidation effects were demonstrated by alleviation of the post-SCI superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increase and malondialdehyde (MDA) level decrease. The anti-inflammation effect of acupuncture was shown as the reduced expression of inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β ), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ) when SCI was treated. And the antiapoptosis role was approved by TUNEL staining. Our data confirmed that the role of acupuncture in neuroprotection and dorsal neuronal function recovery after rat SCI, especially, EA stimulating at Shuigou (DU26) and Fengfu (DU16) can greatly promote neuronal function recovery, which may result from antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and antiapoptosis effects of acupuncture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Donghu Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Song-He
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Zhan
authors.initials: WZ
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: En-Miao
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Sai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhejiang Hospital, Lingyin Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Ru
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Wan-Sheng
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Xueyuan Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Shangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Rui-Dong
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Donghu Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Jing
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Liao