title: Acupuncture Improves Cerebral Microenvironment in Mice with Alzheimer's Disease Treated with Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells.
abstract: Transplantation with neural stem cells (NSCs) is a promising clinical therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the final fate of grafted NSCs is mainly determined by the host microenvironment. Therefore, this study investigated the role of Sanjiao acupuncture in the NSCs-treated hippocampus of a mouse model, senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) using Western blot, real-time fluorescent PCR, and immunofluorescence techniques. Meanwhile, we developed a co-culture model of hippocampal tissue specimens and NSCs in vitro, to observe the effects of acupuncture on survival, proliferation and differentiation of grafted NSCs using flow cytometry. Results showed that acupuncture pre- and post-NSCs transplantation significantly improved senescence-induced cognitive dysfunction (P < 0.05); upregulated the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (P < 0.05); and also increased the count of neuron-specific nuclear protein (NeuN)- and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cells (P < 0.05). Therapeutic acupuncture may regulate the cytokine levels associated with survival, proliferation, and differentiation of NSCs in hippocampal microenvironment, to promote the repair of damaged cells, resulting in improved cognitive performance in mice.
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China. lanzhao69@163.com.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin, 300193, China. lanzhao69@163.com.
authors: Lan
authors: L
authors: Zhao
authors: Tianjin First Center Hospital, Tianjin, 300192, China.
authors: Chunlei
authors: C
authors: Zhou
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Jianwei
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Huiyan
authors: H
authors: Shi
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Bohong
authors: B
authors: Kan
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Zhen
authors: Z
authors: Li
authors: Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Yunzhu
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.
authors: Jingxian
authors: J
authors: Han
authors: First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China. yujianchun2000@hotmail.com.
authors: Jianchun
authors: J
authors: Yu
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
keywords: Acupuncture; Alzheimer’s disease; Microenvironment; Neural stem cells (NSCs)