Altern Ther Health Med. 2024 Jun;30(6):214-221.
Acupuncture pretreatment (AP) has a good skeletal muscle protective effect. The present study investigated whether acupuncture pretreatment could improve ultrastructural changes and skeletal muscle inflammation in exercising skeletal muscle injury. Eighty-eight male SD rats were randomly divided into a blank group (C), an exercise group (E), and an acupuncture pretreatment group (AP). Among them, the E and AP groups were divided into five subgroups of 0h, 12h, 24h, 48h, and 72h according to the extraction time after exercise, with 11 groups and eight rats in each group. The study involved simulating skeletal muscle injury caused by intermittent downhill running centrifugal exercise. The researchers used various methods to observe changes in mitochondrial structure and cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 protein content of classical inflammatory response signaling pathway. These methods included transmission electron microscopy to observe skeletal muscle, Western Blot to detect changes in protein content, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR method) to detect cytoplasmic mtDNA gene fragment ND1, D-LOOP and cGAS-STING- NF-κB p65 protein RNA. The aim was to investigate the changes in NF-κB p65 protein RNA. Changes in NF-κB p65 protein RNA content and mtDNA gene fragment ND1 and D-LOOP content; changes in serum IL-8 and IFN-β content were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); WB, RT-qPCR, ELISA assays aimed to study the skeletal muscle injury and mitochondrial structural damage in group E relationship skeletal muscle tissue level, cytoplasmic mtDNA fragment gene ND1, and D-LOOP content in skeletal muscle tissue of group E. In comparison to group C, the levels of cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 protein expression and mRNA, and the serum levels of IL-8 and IFN-β were significantly higher in group E . However, the acupuncture pretreatment group (AP) reduced the extent of damage to skeletal muscle mitochondria and the levels of cytoplasmic mtDNA fragment genes ND1 and D-LOOP. Also, the high expression of cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 protein, mRNA, and the levels of IL-8 and IFN-β were inhibited in the AP group. The results indicated that AP ameliorated exercise-induced skeletal muscle injury and reduced skeletal muscle inflammation produced after centrifugal exercise. This was achieved by inhibiting the overexpression of the cGAS-STING-NF-κB signaling pathway.
针刺预处理（AP）对骨骼肌具有良好的保护作用。本研究旨在探讨针刺预处理是否能改善运动性骨骼肌损伤的超微结构变化和骨骼肌炎症。88 只雄性 SD 大鼠随机分为空白组（C）、运动组（E）和针刺预处理组（AP）。其中，E 组和 AP 组根据运动后提取时间分为 0h、12h、24h、48h 和 72h 五个亚组，每组 11 只，8 只大鼠。本研究模拟了间歇性下坡离心运动引起的骨骼肌损伤。研究人员使用透射电镜观察骨骼肌、Western blot 检测蛋白含量、逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR 法）检测细胞质 mtDNA 基因片段 ND1、D-LOOP 和 cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 蛋白 RNA，观察经典炎症反应信号通路中骨骼肌线粒体结构和 cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 蛋白含量的变化。目的是研究 NF-κB p65 蛋白 RNA 变化、NF-κB p65 蛋白 RNA 含量及 mtDNA 基因片段 ND1 和 D-LOOP 含量变化；酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）检测血清 IL-8 和 IFN-β 含量；WB、RT-qPCR、ELISA 检测 E 组骨骼肌损伤和线粒体结构损伤的关系，E 组骨骼肌组织细胞质 mtDNA 片段基因 ND1 和 D-LOOP 含量。与 C 组相比，E 组 cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 蛋白表达及 mRNA 水平和血清 IL-8、IFN-β 水平明显升高，而针刺预处理组（AP）降低了骨骼肌线粒体损伤程度和细胞质 mtDNA 片段基因 ND1 和 D-LOOP 的水平。同时，AP 组抑制了 cGAS-STING-NF-κB p65 蛋白、mRNA 及 IL-8、IFN-β 水平的高表达。结果表明，AP 通过抑制 cGAS-STING-NF-κB 信号通路的过度表达，改善了离心运动引起的运动性骨骼肌损伤，减轻了离心运动后产生的骨骼肌炎症。
