Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Significant increasing of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression can promote the occurrence of inflammatory response and increase brain tissue injury.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of eye acupuncture point and non-point therapy on intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression in rat hippocampus of acute cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model.
METHODS: Forty Sprague Dawley rats were divided into normal group, sham-operation group, model group, eye acupuncture point group and eye acupuncture non-point group. Rats in the model group, eye acupuncture point group and eye acupuncture non-point group were used to establish the acute cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model with suture method, the suture was deep for 1.8-2.2 cm. In the eye acupuncture point group, the acupuncture points of hepatic region, upper energizer area, lower energizer area and kidney area were selected when cerebral ischemia-reperfusion occurred immediately and 30 minutes before drawing materials, then horizontal needling the acupuncture points around the orbit for 20 minutes. In the eye acupuncture non-point group, the puncture site was selected at 3 mm away from eye acupuncture non-point area, and then needled the puncture site with the same method in the eye acupuncture point group.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After eye acupuncture point therapy, the neurological deficit scores were decreased, and the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression in rat hippocampus was significantly decreased (P < 0.01). After eye acupuncture non-point therapy, there were no significant changes in neurological deficit scores and the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 protein and mRNA in rat hippocampus. The results indicate that eye acupuncture can significantly improve the rat cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, and the mechanism may relate with reducing the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression in rat hippocampus.

Key words: acupuncture, acupuncture points, reperfusion injury, cytokines, chemokines