Department of Acupuncture and Moxa and Tuina, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fujian, P.R. China.
Genet Mol Biol. 2012 Jul;35(3):686-92. doi: 10.1590/S1415-47572012005000046. Epub 2012 Jul 13.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether treatment with electroacupuncture (EA) inhibited mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in annulus fibrosis (AF) cells in a rat model of cervical intervertebral disc degradation induced by unbalanced dynamic and static forces. Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study, of which 30 underwent surgery to induce cervical intervertebral disc degradation, 10 rats received EA at acupoints Dazhui (DU 14) and Shousanli (LI 10). TUNEL staining was measured to assess apoptosis in AF cells, immunohistochemistry was used to examine Bcl-2 and Bax expression, colorimetric assays were used to determine caspase 9 and caspase 3 activities and RT-PCR and western blotting were used to assess the mRNA and protein expression of Crk and ERK2. Treatment with EA reduced the number of AF-positive cells in TUNEL staining, increased Bcl-2-positive cells and decreased Bax-positive cells in immunohistochemical staining, significantly inhibited the activation of caspases-9 and -3, and enhanced the mRNA and protein expression of Crk and ERK2. Our data show that EA inhibits AF cell apoptosis via the mitochondria-dependent pathway and up-regulates Crk and ERK2 expression. These results suggest that treatment with may be a good alternative therapy for preventing cervical spondylosis.
本研究旨在探讨电针对失衡动静力诱导的大鼠颈椎间盘退变模型中纤维环（AF）细胞线粒体依赖性凋亡的抑制作用。本研究共使用 40 只 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠，其中 30 只大鼠接受手术以诱导颈椎间盘退变，10 只大鼠接受电针对大椎穴（DU14）和手三里穴（LI10）的治疗。TUNEL 染色用于评估 AF 细胞的凋亡，免疫组织化学用于检测 Bcl-2 和 Bax 的表达，比色法用于测定 caspase-9 和 caspase-3 的活性，RT-PCR 和 Western blot 用于评估 Crk 和 ERK2 的 mRNA 和蛋白表达。电针治疗减少了 TUNEL 染色中 AF 阳性细胞的数量，增加了免疫组织化学染色中 Bcl-2 阳性细胞的数量，减少了 Bax 阳性细胞的数量，显著抑制了 caspase-9 和 caspase-3 的激活，并增强了 Crk 和 ERK2 的 mRNA 和蛋白表达。我们的数据表明，电针通过线粒体依赖性途径抑制 AF 细胞凋亡，并上调 Crk 和 ERK2 的表达。这些结果表明，电针治疗可能是预防颈椎病的一种较好的替代疗法。
