Luo Lei, Sun Guo-Jie, Du Yan-Jun
Hubei University of TCM, Wuhan 430065, China.
Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2013 Oct;33(10):913-8.
To explore action mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion for Alzheimer's disease (AD) to provide evidence for prevention and treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion on AD in clinic.
Eighty SPF-grade male Wistar rats, (200 +/- 20) g, were randomly divided into a normal group, a sham-operation group, a model group and a treatment group, 20 cases in each one. The model was duplicated with injection of Abeta1-42 in rats' hippocampus. Expect the treatment group, the rest groups were treated with regular feeding after respective intervention. The treatment group was treated with acupuncture and moxibustion at "Baihui" (GV 20) and "Shenshu" (BL 23), once a day, seven days as a treatment course and totally for two courses. There was one day of interval between the courses. The immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR methods were applied to test level of Abeta-binding alcohol dehydrogense (ABAD) and cytochrome oxidase IV (COX IV) in hippocampal neurons mitochondria.
Acupuncture and moxibustion could reduce effectively level of ABAD and improve activity of COX IV in hippocampal neurons mitochondria in the treatment group, which has statistical significance compared with that in the model group (P < 0.01) and no statistical significance compared with that in the normal group and sham-operation group (P > 0.05). This indicated that acupuncture and moxibustion could effectively suppress overexpression of ABAD, improve activity of COX IV and reduce leak of reactive oxygen species, which could improve metabolic disturbance of mitochondria energy to achieve the goal of prevention and treatment of AD.
The prevention and treatment of AD with acupuncture and moxibustion could be related with suppressing overexpression of ABAD and improving activity of COX IV in hippocampal neurons mitochondria to improve mitochondria energy metabolism.
探讨针灸治疗阿尔茨海默病（AD）的作用机制，为临床运用针灸防治AD提供依据。
将80只体质量（200±20）g的SPF级雄性Wistar大鼠随机分为正常组、假手术组、模型组和治疗组，每组20只。采用向大鼠海马注射β淀粉样蛋白1-42（Aβ1-42）的方法制备模型。除治疗组外，其余各组干预后均常规饲养。治疗组采用针刺“百会”（GV 20）、“肾俞”（BL 23），每日1次，7天为1个疗程，共治疗2个疗程，疗程间间隔1天。采用免疫组化和定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）方法检测海马神经元线粒体中β淀粉样蛋白结合乙醇脱氢酶（ABAD）水平及细胞色素氧化酶IV（COX IV）活性。
治疗组针灸能有效降低海马神经元线粒体中ABAD水平，提高COX IV活性，与模型组比较差异有统计学意义（P<0.01），与正常组和假手术组比较差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。提示针灸可有效抑制ABAD的过度表达，提高COX IV活性，减少活性氧的泄漏，改善线粒体能量代谢紊乱，从而达到防治AD的目的。
针灸防治AD可能与抑制海马神经元线粒体中ABAD的过度表达，提高COX IV活性，改善线粒体能量代谢有关。
