title: Electroacupuncture-induced neuroprotection against focal cerebral ischemia in the rat is mediated by adenosine A1 receptors.
abstract: The activation of adenosine A1 receptors is important for protecting against ischemic brain injury and pretreatment with electroacupuncture has been shown to mitigate ischemic brain insult. The aim of this study was to test whether the adenosine A1 receptor mediates electroacupuncture pretreatment-induced neuroprotection against ischemic brain injury. We first performed 30 minutes of electroacupuncture pretreatment at theBaihuiacupoint (GV20), delivered with a current of 1 mA, a frequency of 2/15 Hz, and a depth of 1 mm. High-performance liquid chromatography found that adenosine triphosphate and adenosine levels peaked in the cerebral cortex at 15 minutes and 120 minutes after electroacupuncture pretreatment, respectively. We further examined the effect of 15 or 120 minutes electroacupuncture treatment on ischemic brain injury in a rat middle cerebral artery-occlusion model. We found that at 24 hours reperfusion,120 minutes after electroacupuncture pretreatment, but not for 15 minutes, significantly reduced behavioral deficits and infarct volumes. Last, we demonstrated that the protective effect gained by 120 minutes after electroacupuncture treatment before ischemic injury was abolished by pretreatment with the A1-receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (1 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). Our results suggest that pretreatment with electroacupuncture at theBaihuiacupoint elicits protection against transient cerebral ischemiaviaaction at adenosine A1 receptors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Qin-Xue
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Wu-Jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Xiu
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Fa
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Chang
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jiang-Fan
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Lu
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1525-3938
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine; adenosine; adenosine A1 receptor; adenosine triphosphate; cerebral ischemia; electroacupuncture; high-performance liquid chromatography; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; pretreatment