Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Neuroprotective effects of electro-acupuncture in spinal cord injury rats via up-regulation of DUSP14

Junfeng Zhang, Yaochi Wu , Jingjie Xu, Shenghong Zhang², Shisheng Li

Department of Acupuncture, Tuina and Traumatology, The Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200233, PR China;

For correspondence:- Yaochi Wu Email: yochiwu@126.com Tel:+862124058523

Accepted: 28 August 2019 Published: 30 September 2019

Citation: Zhang J, Wu Y, Xu J, Zhang S, Li S. Neuroprotective effects of electro-acupuncture in spinal cord injury rats via up-regulation of DUSP14. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(9):1831-1837 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i9.7

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To study the effect and mechanism of action of electro-acupuncture (EA) on nerve regeneration by analyzing the behavior, inflammation and cell death in spinal cord injury (SCI) rat model.

Methods: SCI model was established according to Allen’s falling strike method. Electroacupuncture was performed on Jiaji (EX-B2)/Mingmen (GV4) acupoint with a 1 mA current intermittent wave at a frequency of 2Hz for 20 min daily. Interleukin (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were measured using ELISA kits. Apoptosis-induced DNA strand breaks were evaluated by TUNEL assay while relative mRNA expression was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Protein levels were measured by western blot.

Results: Relative mRNA and protein expressions of DUSP14 decreased in SCI rats with time but increased by EA treatment. Further, partial locomotor functional recovery was presented in SCI rats by EA treatment. Moreover, intraspinal injection of DUSP14 over-expression viral supernatants/EA treatment ameliorated inflammation and apoptosis in SCI rats. Meanwhile, the protein levels of NF-κB p65 (nucleus) and phosphorylated TGF-activated kinase 1 (p-TAK1) increased in SCI rats following EA treatment but were decreased by EA treatment and intraspinal injection of DUSP14 over-expression viral supernatants.

Conclusion: EA acupoint treatment exerts neuroprotective effects in SCI rats via the reduction of inflammation and apoptosis, and induction of DUSP14.

Keywords: Electro-acupuncture, Spinal cord injury, Inflammation, TUNEL index, DUSP14