Cardioprotective Effect of Electroacupuncture Pretreatment on Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury via Antiapoptotic Signaling.
Objectives. Our previous study has used RNA-seq technology to show that apoptotic molecules were involved in the myocardial protection of electroacupuncture pretreatment (EAP) on the ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) animal model. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate how EAP protects myocardium against myocardial I/R injury through antiapoptotic mechanism. Methods. By using rats with myocardial I/R, we ligated the left anterior descending artery (LAD) for 30 minutes followed by 4 hr of reperfusion after EAP at the Neiguan (PC6) acupoint for 12 days; we employed arrhythmia scores, serum myocardial enzymes, and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) to evaluate the cardioprotective effect. Heart tissues were harvested for western blot analyses for the expressions of pro- and antiapoptotic signaling molecules. Results. Our preliminary findings showed that EAP increased the survival of the animals along with declined arrhythmia scores and decreased CK, LDH, CK-Mb, and cTnT levels. Further analyses with the heart tissues detected reduced myocardial fiber damage, decreased number of apoptotic cells and the protein expressions of Cyt c and cleaved caspase 3, and the elevated level of Endo G and AIF after EAP intervention. At the same time, the protein expressions of antiapoptotic molecules, including Xiap, BclxL, and Bcl2, were obviously increased. Conclusions. The present study suggested that EAP protected the myocardium from I/R injury at least partially through the activation of endogenous antiapoptotic signaling.
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Sheng-Feng
SF
Lu
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China; Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Immunological Effects, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China.
Yan
Y
Huang
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Ning
N
Wang
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Wei-Xing
WX
Shen
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Shu-Ping
SP
Fu
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Qian
Q
Li
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Mei-Ling
ML
Yu
School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Wan-Xin
WX
Liu
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Xia
X
Chen
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China.
Xin-Yue
XY
Jing
Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China; Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, China.
Bing-Mei
BM
Zhu