Wu Xian-Ming, Zhang Ning, Zhu Zhou, Yang Xiao-Fang
The Second Clinical Medical College, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550025, China.
Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Rehabilitation, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550002.
Zhen Ci Yan Jiu. 2025 Aug 25;50(8):928-935. doi: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20240618.
To observe the effect of moxibustion on pathological structure and ultrastructural changes of thoracic aorta, the expression of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in ApoE atherosclerosis (AS) mice, so as to explore its possible mechanism in preventing and treating AS.
Ten C57BL/6J mice were fed a normal diet as the control group, and 30 ApoE mice were fed a high-fat diet to establish the AS model, which were randomly divided into the model group, moxibustion group, and moxibustion+EX527 group, with 10 mice in each group. Mice in the moxibustion group received mild moxibustion treatment at "Danzhong"(CV17), "Shenque"(CV8), "Neiguan"(PC6, bilateral), and "Xuehai" (SP10, bilateral) for 30 min, the mice in the moxibustion+EX527 group were given intraperitoneal injection of EX527 (10 mg/kg) 30 min before moxibustion, with both treatments given once daily, 5 times a week, with a total intervention period of 12 weeks. After the intervention, the contents of nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) in serum were detected by ELISA. HE staining and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to observe the pathological structure and ultrastructural changes of thoracic aorta. The expression of endomucin of thoracic aorta was observed by immunofluorescence staining. The protein and mRNA expression levels of SIRT1 and eNOS in thoracic aorta were detected by Western blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, respectively.
Compared with the control group, the content of serum NO was decreased (<0.05), while the content of serum ET-1 was increased (<0.05);the fluorescence intensity of endomucin, the protein and mRNA expression of SIRT1 and eNOS in thoracic aorta were significantly decreased (<0.05) in the model group. Compared with the model and moxibustion+EX527 groups, the moxibustion group showed a significantly increase in the serum NO contents (<0.05), and decrease in serum ET-1 contents (<0.05), and the endomucin fluorescence intensity, SIRT1 and eNOS protein and mRNA were significantly increased (<0.05). Morphological observation revealed that in the model group, light microscope showed incomplete thoracic aorta structure, uneven inner wall, endothelial cell degeneration and swelling, and TEM showed a few swollen mitochondria and autophagy, and a large number of dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum, and these situations were obviously milder in the moxibustion group.
Moxibustion can reduce vascular endothelial injury, improve endothelial function and promote endothelial repair in AS mice, which may be related to its function in regulating the SIRT1/eNOS signaling pathway.
观察艾灸对载脂蛋白E基因敲除（ApoE）动脉粥样硬化（AS）小鼠胸主动脉病理结构及超微结构变化、沉默信息调节因子1（SIRT1）和内皮型一氧化氮合酶（eNOS）表达的影响，以探讨其防治AS的可能机制。
选取10只C57BL/6J小鼠作为正常对照组，给予普通饲料喂养；30只ApoE小鼠给予高脂饲料喂养建立AS模型，将造模成功的小鼠随机分为模型组、艾灸组、艾灸+EX527组，每组10只。艾灸组小鼠取“膻中”（CV17）、“神阙”（CV8）、“内关”（双侧PC6）、“血海”（双侧SP10）穴温和灸30 min，艾灸+EX527组小鼠在艾灸前30 min腹腔注射EX527（10 mg/kg），两种处理均每日1次，每周5次，共干预12周。干预结束后，采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法检测血清中一氧化氮（NO）、内皮素-1（ET-1）含量；采用苏木精-伊红（HE）染色及透射电镜（TEM）观察胸主动脉病理结构及超微结构变化；采用免疫荧光染色观察胸主动脉内皮下层黏蛋白表达；采用蛋白质免疫印迹法（Western blot）和实时荧光定量聚合酶链反应（real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR）分别检测胸主动脉中SIRT1、eNOS蛋白及mRNA表达水平。
与正常对照组比较，模型组小鼠血清NO含量降低（<0.05），ET-1含量升高（<0.05）；胸主动脉内皮下层黏蛋白荧光强度、SIRT1及eNOS蛋白和mRNA表达均明显降低（<0.05）。与模型组、艾灸+EX527组比较，艾灸组小鼠血清NO含量显著升高（<0.05），ET-1含量显著降低（<0.05），内皮下层黏蛋白荧光强度、SIRT1及eNOS蛋白和mRNA表达均显著升高（<0.05）。形态学观察显示，模型组光镜下胸主动脉结构不完整，内壁不平整，内皮细胞变性、肿胀；TEM下可见少量线粒体肿胀、自噬，大量粗面内质网扩张；艾灸组上述情况明显减轻。
艾灸可减轻AS小鼠血管内皮损伤，改善内皮功能，促进内皮修复，其机制可能与调节SIRT1/eNOS信号通路有关。
