Lin Dong, Lin Li-Li, Sutherland Kyle, Cao Chuan-Hai
College of Acupuncture, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China.
Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Neural Regen Res. 2016 Feb;11(2):305-11. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.177740.
Acupuncture at the SJ5 (Waiguan) acupoint has neuroprotective effects in cerebral infarction, but the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed gene expression in healthy rat cerebellum using a pathway-focused DNA microarray to screen 113 genes associated with 18 signal transduction pathways. After 20 minutes of acupuncture at SJ5, the expression of Bcl-2 and Birc1b mRNA was markedly increased. This was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription PCR. Furthermore, western blot analysis showed that Bcl-2 protein expression remained high in the cerebellum until at least 2 hours after cessation of acupuncture. These findings indicate that acupuncture at SJ5 exerts neuroprotective effects by regulating the expression of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2.
针刺三焦经5穴（外关）对脑梗死具有神经保护作用，但其潜在机制仍知之甚少。在此，我们使用聚焦通路的DNA微阵列分析健康大鼠小脑的基因表达，以筛选与18条信号转导通路相关的113个基因。针刺三焦经5穴20分钟后，Bcl-2和Birc1b mRNA的表达显著增加。这通过实时逆转录PCR得到证实。此外，蛋白质印迹分析表明，在针刺停止后至少2小时内，小脑内Bcl-2蛋白表达仍维持在较高水平。这些发现表明，针刺三焦经5穴通过调节抗凋亡基因Bcl-2的表达发挥神经保护作用。
