Wang Jingji, Du Kunrui, Liu Chang, Chen Xiaoyu, Ban Wenming, Zhu Guoqi, Yang Jun
Center for Xin'an Medicine and Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine of IHM, and Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Brain diseases), Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
Acupuncture and Moxibustion Clinical Medical Research Center of Anhui Province, The Second Affiliation Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
Front Pharmacol. 2024 Oct 22;15:1428907. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1428907. eCollection 2024.
This study aimed to explore the effect of moxibustion at Governor Vessel (GV) acupoints, including Baihui (GV 20), Shenting (GV 24) and Dazhui (GV 14) for 14 days on glial vascular unit (GVU) in rats with multiple microinfarctions (MMI), and to explore its action mechanism.
The effect and mechanism of moxibustion on vascular dementia (VD) were studied in MMI rats by means of behavioral and molecular biology experiments.
Rats receiving MMI showed impairment of memory function, reduction of cerebral blood flow, damage of blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity and increased brain mass. MMI also increased neuronal degeneration in the hippocampus. Notably, levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and complement component 3 significantly increased, but those of Connexin43 (CX43) and platelet derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) significantly decreased in the hippocampus of the rats receiving MMI. Moxibustion, as well as oxiracetam (ORC) treatment improved memory function and neuronal degeneration, ameliorated BBB integrity, increased cerebral blood flow and decreased brain mass. In addition, moxibustion as well as oxiracetam (ORC) treatment reduced the decrease of CX43 protein and increased PDGFRβ protein level in the hippocampus of MMI rats. Moreover, moxibustion treatment reversed MMI-induced increase of the GFAP/CX43 ratio in vascular structural units. Importantly, after PDGFRβ inhibition, VD rats treated with moxibustion had impaired learning and memory, decreased cerebral blood flow, and BBB disruption.
Moxibustion treatment at various GV acupoints improved cerebral blood flow and repaired BBB function in rats with MMI, likely through protecting GVU.
本研究旨在探讨对督脉穴位（包括百会穴（GV20）、神庭穴（GV24）和大椎穴（GV14））进行为期14天的艾灸对多发微梗死（MMI）大鼠胶质血管单元（GVU）的影响，并探讨其作用机制。
通过行为学和分子生物学实验研究艾灸对MMI大鼠血管性痴呆（VD）的影响及机制。
接受MMI的大鼠表现出记忆功能受损、脑血流量减少、血脑屏障（BBB）完整性受损和脑质量增加。MMI还增加了海马体中的神经元变性。值得注意的是，在接受MMI的大鼠海马体中，胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）和补体成分3的水平显著升高，但连接蛋白43（CX43）和血小板衍生生长因子受体β（PDGFRβ）的水平显著降低。艾灸以及奥拉西坦（ORC）治疗改善了记忆功能和神经元变性，改善了BBB完整性，增加了脑血流量并降低了脑质量。此外，艾灸以及奥拉西坦（ORC）治疗降低了MMI大鼠海马体中CX43蛋白的减少，并提高了PDGFRβ蛋白水平。此外，艾灸治疗逆转了MMI诱导的血管结构单元中GFAP/CX43比值的增加。重要的是，在抑制PDGFRβ后，接受艾灸治疗的VD大鼠出现学习和记忆受损、脑血流量减少和BBB破坏。
对不同督脉穴位进行艾灸治疗可改善MMI大鼠的脑血流量并修复BBB功能，可能是通过保护GVU实现的。
